Qatar's RasGas Completes Construction of $2 Billion Common Off-Plot Facilities in Ras Laffan

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--RasGas Company Limited (Doha, Qatar) recently announced that it has completed construction of off-plot facilities that will provide common loading, storage and other infrastructure for projects in the Ras Laffan Industrial City. The $2 billion project included storage facilities for propane, lean liquefied natural gas (LNG), butane, condensate, and other allied facilities.

The project is operated and maintained by RasGas, a company promoted by ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) and Qatar Petroleum (Doha, Qatar). It is expected to bring in greater savings and benefits in the long run for these companies and also to provide larger economies of scale. The projects that will benefit from these amenities include the Barzan and Al Khaleej gas projects, Pearl gas-to-liquid (GTL) project, Qatar Gas LNG project (phases I, II, III and IV), Dolphin Energy project, and Ras Laffan LNG project (phases I, II and III). All of the projects are located in the Ras Laffan Industrial City.

The Barzan mega-gas project is a joint-venture initiative between ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum. It is being constructed in phases. The first phase, scheduled for completion by 2012, will deliver 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of gas to meet domestic industrial demand in Qatar.

The Al-Khaleej gas (AKG) facility, again a joint-venture initiative between ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum, is being completed in two stages. The first phase, AKG-I, is currently operational, producing 750 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. Engineering, procurement and construction activities for the second phase, AKG-2, are under way. When both the phases are fully operational, the combined production capacity of the project will be around 2 billion cubic feet per day.

The Pearl GTL project, developed by Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands) and Qatar Petroleum, will convert natural gas into liquid petroleum products. When commissioned, the plant will be the world's largest GTL facility, processing 1.6 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas into 120,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) of ethane and other liquids and 140,000 BBL/d of liquid petroleum derivatives. JGC Corporation (TYO:1963) (Yokohoma, Japan) and KBR Incorporated (NYSE:KBR) (Houston, Texas) are the contractors for the project. The first phase will be completed by 2010, while the second phase is expected to begin operation by the end of 2011. A production sharing agreement has also been signed between Shell and Qatar Petroleum.

The five-train LNG project promoted by QatarGas (Doha) has been developed as separate joint ventures. QatarGas 1, with a production capacity of 10 million tons per year, has 65% investment from Qatar Petroleum, 10% each from Total SA (NYSE:TOT) (Paris) and ExxonMobil, and 7.5% each from Marubeni Corporation (TYO:8002) (Tokyo) and Mitsui & Company Limited (TYO:8031) (Tokyo).

QatarGas 2 consists of two 7.8 million-ton-per-year trains. One train has been constructed with ExxonMobil, Qatar Petroleum and Total holding stakes of 18.3%, 65% and 16.7%, respectively. The second train will see 30% investment from Shell and the remainder from Qatar Petroleum.

ConocoPhilips (NYSE:COP) (Houston, Texas), Qatar Petroleum, and Mitsui hold stakes of 30%, 68.5% and 1.5%, respectively, in the QatarGas 3 project, which consists of a 7.8 million-ton-per-year LNG train.

Shell and Qatar Petroleum, with stakes of 30% and 70%, respectively, will develop the 7.8 million-ton-per-year QatarGas 4 LNG train.

Dolphin Energy (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) is jointly owned by Total, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) (Los Angeles, California), and Mubadala Development Company (Abu Dhabi). Dolphin is developing a gas project, which will process and produce and carry 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from North Field in Qatar to the United Arab Emirates for 25 years.

The Ras Laffan LNG project presently consists of five operating LNG trains. Trains 1 and 2 each have the capacity to produce 6.6 million tons per year of natural gas, which is exported to Korea. Trains 3, 4 and 5, each with a capacity of 4.7 million tons per year, cater to the Indian, European and Asian markets. The sixth and seventh trains, which are in the planning and construction stages, will each have a production capacity of 7.8 million tons per year.

Qatar currently exports 30.7 million tons per year of LNG. The country has set an export target of 77 million tons per year of LNG to be achieved by 2010. This will account for 30% of the global demand at that time. With new LNG projects, development of allied infrastructure, and capacity augmentation, Qatar is set to bolster its position as a leading LNG producer and exporter on the world map.

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