Qatar Energy to boost liquefied natural gas production by 60%
ALBWABA – Qatar Energy announced on Tuesday that the company’s $10 billion gas project contract was awarded to a joint venture of France’s Technip Energies and Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC).
The state-owned energy giant said the contract was for the engineering, procurement and construction of the North Field South (NFS) project, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Qatar Energy estimated the value of the project at around $10 billion.
The project's "scope covers the construction of two mega" liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains with a combined capacity of 16 million tonnes per year,” AFP reported.
The LNG trains, together with further expansion of North Field East (NFE), would boost Qatar's total production by 60 percent, Qatar Energy said.
These projects will boost Qatar's LNG production by 60 percent to 126 million tonnes a year by 2027.
Qatar currently produces 77 million tonnes of LNG per year, according to the company’s statement, carried by AFP.
The North Field contains the world's largest natural gas reserves and extends under the Gulf into Iranian territory, AFP explained.
Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, who is also Qatar Energy's chief, dubbed this latest deal as "another significant milestone in the world's largest LNG project".
The project also includes one of the largest CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) facilities in the world, he underlined.
According to Technip, the planned CCS facility would lead to "25 percent-plus reduction of greenhouse gas emissions when compared to similar LNG facilities".
Qatar Energy said it holds a 75 percent interest in the NFS project and has already signed partnership agreements with Total Energies, Shell and Conoco Phillips for the remaining 25 percent.
Who won the contract?
CCC is the largest construction company in the Middle East.
The company was founded in 1952 and was ranked among the top 25 international contractors worldwide, back in 2011, according to the Engineering News-Record.
Meanwhile, France’s Technip Energies was established in 2021 as a spinoff of multinational energy company Technip FMC.
Technip FMC, in turn, resulted from the merger of French company Technip and American company FMC technologies, back in 2016.
The French company in 2019 split into two separate companies.
A dedicated technology and services company, to retain the Technip FMC name, and an engineering and construction business renamed Technip Energies, concluded in 2021.
Qatar gas prospects
Asian countries led by China, Japan and South Korea have been the main market for Qatar's gas.
But since the Russian-Ukrainian war irrupted, more European countries have been approaching Qatar for gas deals, as the war disrupted Europe’s natural gas supplies.
Last November, Qatar announced its first major deal to send liquefied natural gas to Germany.
Up to two million tonnes of gas a year would be sent for at least 15 years, as of 2026, al-Kaabi said at the time, according to AFP.
That same month, QatarEnergy announced a 27-year natural gas supply deal with China, calling it the "longest" ever seen.
Qatar is one of the world's top LNG producers, alongside the United States, Australia and Russia.
Qatar Energy estimates the North Field holds about 10 percent of the world's known natural gas reserves.
