Wikipedia

Qatargas is the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) company. It annually produces and supplies the globe with 42 million metric tonnes of LNG from across its four ventures (Qatargas 1, Qatargas 2, Qatargas 3, and Qatargas 4). It is headquartered in Doha, Qatar, and maintains its upstream assets in Ras Laffan, Qatar. Natural gas is supplied to Qatargas's LNG trains from Qatar's massive North Field, by far the world's largest non-associated gas field. Together with RasGas, it reached a record LNG production of 77 million tones per year in December 2010.[1]

Contents

History

Qatargas (Qatargas Liquified Gas Company Limited) was established in 1984 as a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil and other partners. In the following years the company began developing the North Field and erected the first three LNG trains (Train 1, 2 and 3) with a design capacity of 3.3 million tonnes per year each. The trains were built in 1996, 1997 and 1998 respectively.[2][3]

The company executed the first two major sales and purchase agreements with eight Japanese customers in 1992 and 1994, the company Chubu Electric Power being the largest.[2][3][4][5] The contract guaranteed the delivery of 4 million tonnes of LNG per year to Chubu Electric and six million tonnes per year over a 25-year period for the total eight customers.[2][4]

In 1993 Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company was established as a subsidiary for the operation and maintenance of LNG and Helium production, and operates also as a subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum, based in Doha.[6]

In 1994 the official foundation stone for Qatargas 1 was laid and in 1995 another major contract with the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) was signed, guaranteeing the supply of 2.4 million tonnes of LNG per year. Also, in 1995, the first offshore drilling operations were commenced.[3] In 1996 LNG production began.[3]

The first LNG carrier named Al Zubara was delivered to Qatargas in 1996 and subsequently the first shipment of LNG was loaded and delivered to Japan in 1996 and Spain (Enagás) in 1997 from Ras Laffan Industrial City's port.[4] In the same year, 1997, the then Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani inaugurated the Qatargas 1 LNG plant and facilities and the first sulfur plant launched operation (Sulfur Plant 1). 2000 also marked 10 million tonnes of LNG delivered to Japan since shipment commencement in 1996.

In 2001 Ras Laffe Liquified Natural Gas Company II (RL II) and RasGas Company Ltd. were established to operate the LNG trains and associated facilities, also located in Ras Laffan Industrial City. In the same year 25-year contract with Edison Gas was signed.[3]

In 2002 a contract was signed with BP, for the delivery of 750,000 tonnes of LNG per year to Spain. The first shipment was scheduled for the third quarter of 2003 and the British Merchant, a BP-operated LNG vessel, was assigned to carry out shipments per year over a three-year period.[4] In the same year Qatar Petroleum signed an agreement with ExxonMobil for the construction of two additional LNG trains (Train 4 and 5), forming the "Qatargas 2" joint-venture. Exxon and other partners invested around $12.8 billion into the joint-venture. The foundation stone was laid in February 2005.[7][8][9]

In 2003, a joint venture for the Ras Laffan helium project was formed. It produced the first helium in August 2005.[10] Qatargas 3 was formed in the same year between Qatar Petroleum and ConocoPhillips.

In 2003 another Head of Agreement between Qatar Petroleum and RL (II) to supply 15.6 Mta of LNG to the USA was signed.

RasGas also began to build and operate the first phase of the Al Khaleej Gas project ("AK-1" or "AKG-1") for domestic gas supply on behalf of Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil Middle East Gas Marketing.

In 2004 the first dedicated LNG vessel Fuwairit was delivered to RL (II)[11] and in 2005 AK-1 was inaugurated and started, as well as Ras Laffan Liquified Natural Gas Company Limited (III) (RLIII) established, which owns RasGas' trains 6 and 7, the company's first mega-trains. Another agreement between Shell and Qatargas was made in order to erect Qatargas 4 ("QG4").[12]

In July 2005, Qatargas Operating Company Limited was formed for the purpose of constructions of Qatargas 2, Qatargas 3, Qatargas 4, Laffan Refinery and other assets on behalf of the shareholders.[3] In 2005 Qatargas also announced a moratorium on further development of the North Field, and ordered further studies and a review of the field, which were expected to end in 2010. The moratorium was initially expected to remain in place until 2013 or 2014 but was lifted in 2017.[13][14]

On 6 April 2009, the Qatargas 2 project was officially inaugurated. In November 2010 and January 2011, respectively, qatargas 3 and 4 started production. [15]

Operations

The shareholders of the Qatargas 1 are Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Total, Mitsui and Marubeni. It owns three LNG trains. In 2008, it produced 10.09 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas.[16] The projected production for the end of 2012 was 42 million tonnes per year.

Qatargas II, a joint venture of Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil, owns LNG trains 4 and 5 with a capacity of 7.8 million tonnes per year each. It is supplying LNG for the South Hook LNG terminal at Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales, from where gas is fed to the South Wales Gas Pipeline. This covers 20% of the United Kingdom's needs of LNG.

Qatargas III is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and Mitsui. Qatargas IV is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell.[17] At first approached as separate projects, Qatargas III and IV are now being built by a joint asset development team that is staffed by Qatargas, ConocoPhillips and Shell employees as well as project direct hires and short term contractors.[18] Its trains have started up by end 2010 (QG3) and early 2011 (QG4).[19]

Qatargas' offshore operations are located approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) northeast of Qatar's mainland on the North Field. The production facilities were commissioned in 1996. Processed gas is transferred to shore with the associated condensate via a single 32 inches (810 mm) subsea pipeline.

Qatargas transports its LNG by using two classes of LNG tankers known as Q-Max and Q-Flex.

See also

References

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‏Source en.m.wikipedia.org