Page 14 - MEOG Week 13 2021

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

QP to take full

control of Qatargas 1

QATAR QATAR Petroleum (QP) announced this week economy and allowed the tiny island nation to
that it would not renew the Qatargas Liquefied become the world’s top LNG exporter.
Natural Gas Company Ltd (QG1) joint venture QP recently awarded major contracts under
(JV) when its concession expires at the end of the North Field Expansion (NFE) project. A
next year, at which point the state-owned firm lump sum EPC contract was apportioned to
will take full control. Samsung C&T worth more than $2bn for the
The current JV arrangement with super-ma- expansion of LNG storage and loading facilities
jors Total (10%) and ExxonMobil (10%) as well within Ras Laffan Industrial City and a $13bn
as Marubeni (7.5%) and Mitsui (7.5%), expires EPC contract was awarded to a JV between
on December 31, and QP will assume full own- Chiyoda and Technip Energies covering the
ership on January 1, 2022, up from its current construction of four LNG mega-trains and asso-
65% holding. ciated facilities.
HE Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister Qatar is in the process of increasing its LNG
of State for Energy Affairs, QP’s President and production capacity from 77mn tpy to 110mn
CEO, said that the move would “conclude more tpy by the end of 2025. The second phase of the
than 25 years of successful operations of QG1, planned expansion, the North Field South (NFS)
from which the first ever Qatari LNG cargo was project, is anticipated to raise Qatar’s LNG pro-
exported”. duction capacity further, from 110mn tpy to
He added that the “momentous event” high- 126mn tpy by 2027.™
lighted QP’s “efforts to further enhance the uti-
lization of our natural resources for the benefit
of our country and its current and future gener-
ations as well as to continue serving the world’s
need for cleaner energy.”
QG1 has a production capacity of around
10mn tonnes per year of LNG. The JV awarded
a contract worth around $1.7bn to Italy’s Saipem
in late February covering the engineering,
procurement, construction and installation
(EPCI) of various offshore facilities at the super-
giant North Field. The asset has fuelled Qatar’s

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 13 31•March•2021