DOHA: Shell has invested $20bn in Qatar making it the largest foreign investor in the country, an official of Shell said recently.
Addressing the Business and Investment Forum in Qatar held in New York, Andy Brown, Shell's Executive Vice President, said Shell has gone a long way after its first foray in Qatar eight years ago.
"Eight years ago we posted our first employee back in the country. Today we have invested approximately $20bn. We have almost 1,500 Shell employees in the country," said Brown, adding they are bringing on stream projects which will represent 10 percent of Shell.
Lauding the good partnership between Shell and Qatar, he calls Qatar as a 'region' in Shell's upstream portfolio alongside Europe and Asia.
Brown highlighted Shell's achievements in Qatar particularly the Pearl GTL project in which Shell invested $18bn to $19bn. "The Pearl GTL project, which utilises Shell portfolio of 3500 patents in GTL technology, had 52,000 skilled construction workers at peak and was the largest construction site in the industry anywhere in the world, a project where we achieved record safety statistics, a project where we set new benchmarks for Middle Eastern worker welfare." With regard to their first wells offshore, Brown said they are making excellent progress in starting up the process units, producing Condensate and LPG and later this year GTL products.
"At peak we will manufacture 140,000bbl/d of high quality GTL fuels, chemical feedstocks and lubricant base oils as well as 120kboe/d of conventional condensate, LPG and ethane. This project will deliver value to Shell and the State of Qatar for many decades to come."
"We were delighted to also be invited into investments in LNG and a fortnight ago celebrated reaching 100 percent output from Qatargas 4, where we are a 30 percent shareholder in this 7.8 mtpa LNG train. It has always been our aim to support QP and Qatargas as much as we can in reaching their ambition to reach 77mtpa and in supporting Sheikh Khalid, CEO of Qatargas, in running the largest LNG company in the world," Brown said.
"Today, we have Shell staff helping with the operation of Qatargas and today, 1,200 Shell officers and crew provide operations and maintenance services in running the Nakilat fleet of 25 LNG tankers, one of the most impressive marine fleets anywhere in the world."
He lauded QP as a model of an effective NOC, establishing the investment climate, stimulating innovation, encouraging investors to break new ground, to push the boundaries and set new records.
© The Peninsula 2011
