DOHA: Qatar has no plan to build a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) train, but process debottlenecking and revamping the existing ones is very much on the agenda, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah said here yesterday.
"Process debottlenecking is very much in the agenda. For instance the production capacity of Qatargas I was 6Mta, then after process debottlenecking we added another four million tonnes. We are not going to build any new LNG train, but if in the future we want to expand it will only be though revamping and process debottlenecking, because in our calculations and studies it will be more easier, cost effective and to avoid building a grassroot project," he said.
Al Attiyah was speaking at a news conference after the celebration of the country's production capacity milestone of 77Mta of LNG. He also said the Golden Pass LNG Terminal off the cost of Texas in the US, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (QP), ExxonMobil, RasGas and ConoPhillips is expected to be operational in April next year. The terminal received its first shipment from Qatar in October this year for testing and commissioning, he added.
Al Attiyah said achieving 77 Mta of LNG production capacity has made Qatar the biggest LNG exporting country in the world. "We have also become the biggest producer of GTL. Besides, we are main players in fertilisers and derivatives. There are still a number of projects in the pipeline that we are going to sign in the near future," he said, adding that this capacity constitute 28 percent of world production.
In addition, the output from the Barzan Gas Project dedicated to meet local demand, especially from industries and utilities will be used mainly for power generation. "The project will come on stream hopefully in 2014 said Al Attiyah. "We are the only GCC country with power surplus. So even by 2014 we can expand our power generation even more if we need it. The Qatar's demand will reach by then some 5bn cu ft a day. This is huge for a small country," he said.
Speaking about gas prices, Al Attiyah said they did not decline on the world markets except in the US. "Most of our contracts are in Asia and Europe and the prices of gas are very much linked to that of oil," he said, adding that negotiations were under way to increase shipments to India and China and that discussions were also being conducted with new markets in Asia and Europe.
© The Peninsula 2010
