Qatargas turns world’s largest LNG producer

By Pratap John
Chief Business Reporter

Al-Sada: significant milestone for Qatar

Qatargas has reached its targeted 42mn tonnes per year (tpy) of liquefied natural gas capacity and become the world’s largest LNG producer with the start-up of its seventh and final train at Ras Laffan.
Production from Train 7, the world’s largest LNG facility with a 7.8mn tpy capacity, has commenced, Qatargas said yesterday. It forms part of the Qatargas 4 project, which is jointly owned by Qatar Petroleum (70%) and Shell (30%).
Train 7 is the last of the four mega trains constructed by Qatargas at Ras Laffan.
The Qatargas 4 project opens new markets for liquefied natural gas. In addition to its primary destination, which is the United States, sale agreements had already been signed with China and Dubai for Qatargas 4 LNG.
Although all volumes will be sold on a long-term basis, Qatargas said it continues to seek other new markets to ‘optimise its portfolio through diversions’.
The Qatargas 4 project and its mega Train 7 have been built in parallel with the identical Train 6 in the Qatargas 3 project, by a single-team.
The two projects (which have different shareholders) share offshore, storage, and other infrastructure and are also operated together, leading to greater synergies and efficiency.
The upstream infrastructure for the Qatargas 4 project consists of three unmanned platforms, up to 33 wells and two subsea pipelines, all of which are complete and are shared with the Qatargas 3 project.
Qatargas Train 7 produces 1.4bn standard cubic feet of gas per day, delivering 7.8mn tpy of LNG and 70,000 barrels per day of condensate and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Liquefied natural gas from Qatargas Train 7 will be transported to the designated markets using a fleet of eight ships, with capacities in the range of 210,000 – 266,000 cubic metres, operated by Nakilat.
HE the Minister of Energy and Industry, Dr Mohamed Saleh al-Sada, who is also Qatargas chairman said, "This achievement is a significant milestone for Qatar. All the 14 LNG trains planned are now producing LNG – meeting the energy needs of millions of people around the world.
"This accomplishment is also supporting the vision of HH the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, that Qatar’s energy resources would fuel the country’s long term development.
"Qatargas has achieved a world-class start-up of its Train 7, the result of meticulous planning and preparation by the Qatargas team.
"The accomplishment reinforces the strategic use of the Qatar’s natural gas resource and continues to accelerate the rapid growth of the country towards achieving Qatar National Vision 2030.
"Moving forward, we now look to Qatargas to operate its QG4 project effectively and reliably, continuing to satisfy its customers with every delivery.”
Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser said: "Qatargas cements its place today as the world’s premier LNG supplier.
Cargoes from the Qatargas 4 project will enable new customers around the world to benefit from using cleaner-burning natural gas from Qatar.”