Doha - Qatar, 02 December 2011: The Qatargas Jetty Boil-off gas (JBOG) Project team announced today of a major safety milestone as they completed three million man-hours without any lost time injury (LTI).

Nearly 2000 people are working on this crucial project, which aims to recover gas currently being flared during Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) ship loading at the Port of Ras Laffan.

Commenting on this milestone, Alae Sadic Hassan, Acting Chief Operating Officer, Engineering & Ventures, said: "Three million man-hours without LTI is a major step forward for the JBOG project considering that the project's estimated total man-hours are in the range of 15-20 million. It is the direct result of our Incident and Injury Free (IIF) programme which has improved the safety behaviour of everybody on the Project. JBOG Project has created a culture in which safety is a core value, shared by us and all our contractors."

Bashir Mirza, Project Manager JBOG, said:

"All project team members receive the IIF orientation before they set foot on site.  We have also trained the first and second level supervisors through special skills development programmes enabling them to constructively correct unsafe behaviour."

Listing the challenges the JBOG team face in their quest for creating a safe working environment, he said:

"The JBOG Project has worked hard to increase awareness amongst the workers of the risks of unsafe behaviour.  We have held regular training sessions, daily safety task assessments and weekly toolbox talks to help the workers realise that taking risks with their and their fellow workers' safety is not an option.  We have also had to address the cultural issues which inhibit the workers from speaking up when they see an unsafe act.  Safety remains JBOG's number one priority, and we have ensured that construction progress does not come in the way of achieving an Incident and Injury Free workplace.  The extreme weather conditions, unskilled and inexperienced workers and man-machine interface are challenges which our teams are addressing on a daily basis."

He noted that the Project leadership team realises that in order to ensure that everybody working on JBOG goes home safely, the team  need to keep safety as number one priority. 

The team organises monthly safety leadership team meetings in which Qatargas and all contractors discuss safety performance, and discuss upcoming challenges to safe working.   There is zero tolerance on non-compliance to JBOG's twelve Golden Safety Rules. The JBOG Project regularly rewards safe working through prizes and certificates to individuals across the project. -ENDS

-Ends-

About JBOG project
The "Jetty Boil-off Gas (JBOG) Recovery Project" aims to recover gas currently being flared during Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) ship loading at the Port of Ras Laffan. The project is part of the Common Facilities Projects at Ras Laffan Industrial City in the north of Qatar. The project will enable boiled-off gas to be collected from LNG ships and compressed at a central facility.  The compressed gas will then be sent to the LNG producers to be consumed as fuel or converted back into LNG.  This project, when fully operational, will recover the equivalent of some 0.6 million tonnes per year of LNG, which is enough natural gas to power more than 40,000 homes.

About Qatargas
Qatargas was established in 1984, and pioneered the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry in Qatar. Today, Qatargas, under the guidance of His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy & Industry of the State of Qatar and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Qatargas, is the largest LNG producing company in the world, with an annual LNG production capacity of 42 million tonnes per annum (MTA) and is realising its vision to deliver LNG to its customers around the globe, from its world-class facilities in Qatar. Qatargas has seven LNG trains, of which four are the largest in the world - known as mega trains - each with a production capacity of 7.8 MTA.  The Qatargas vision is, by 2015 to be the world's premier LNG Company, known for its people, innovation, operating excellence, environmental responsibility and corporate citizenship. Since the establishment of Qatargas 1, it has completed a successful expansion programme that has included the development of Qatargas 2; Qatargas 3 and Qatargas 4 projects; Laffan Refinery, a dedicated fleet of ships, and an LNG Receiving Terminal. Qatargas operates these trains and the offshore as well as the Laffan Refinery, the Common Sulphur facilities, the Common Lean LNG (CLLNG), the Common LPG (CLPG) and the Common Condensate Storage & Loading (CCSL) projects on behalf of all project owners. Today, Qatargas' customers are spread throughout the four corners of the world in European, Asian, Middle Eastern and North and South American markets.

For media enquiries please contact: Lynda James, lyjames@qatargas.com.qa, Ph +974 7799 66 35 or Thajudeen Aliar, taliar@qatargas.com.qa, Ph +974 3340 64 74

© Press Release 2011