Qatar Economic Review 2006(September) - QNB

Qatar’s LNG Projects1. Qatar Liquefied Natural Gas Company (Qatargas)Qatargas was established in 1984, with the first sales agreement being signed in 1992. The mainactivities of Qatargas are divided into two main projects with separate shareholder groups: the upstreamjoint venture (offshore production and the onshore receiving facilities) and the downstream joint venture(onshore LNG Plant).The Qatargas upstream joint venture has equity held by QP (65%) and four major energy and tradingcompanies, TotalFinaElf (20%), ExxonMobil (10%), Mitsui (2.5%) and Marubeni (2.5%). The Qatargasdownstream joint venture has equity held by QP (65%), TotalFinaElf (10%), ExxonMobil (10%), Mitsui(7.5%) and Marubeni (7.5%).The first output from the plant in the form of condensate was shipped to Japan in October 1996, withthe first LNG shipment to Chubu Electric Power following in December of the same year. The productioncapacity of Qatargas’ existing three trains exceeds 9.2 mtpa, whose output is destined to Japan (ChubuElectric Power and seven other Japanese customers).In 2005, Qatargas exported a total of 9.9 million tons (mt) of LNG, with contracted exports expected toreach 41.5 million tons by 2011 (Table 3.6). Qatargas produced 9.9 mt of LNG and around 60,000 bpdof condensates in 2005.Table 3.6(a)Qatargas ActualLNG Exports(In million tons per annum) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Actual (SPA’s and Spot) 6.6 7.5 7.5 8.0 8.9 9.9(b)Qatargas AnticipatedLNG Exports(In million tons per annum) 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Contracted (SPA’s and HoA) 10.2 10.2 15.5 28.6 38.9 41.5Source: Qatargas, QP and QNB.Japan is the world’s largest importer of LNG, importing 97% of its natural gas needs, all in the form ofLNG. Japan is the main importer of Qatargas’ LNG and in 2005 imported 6.2 million tons, followed bySpain with 2.9 mt and other spot sales totaled 0.8 mt (Table 3.7).Table 3.7Qatargas’ LNGExports (mtpa)Destination Country 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Japan 6.1 6.3 6.8 6.8 6.2Spain 0.6 1.2 1.1 2.0 2.9Others 0.8 - 0.1 0.1 0.8Total 7.5 7.5 8.0 8.9 9.9Source: Qatargas and QP.Qatargas has completed its debottlenecking process which began in 2001, and current productioncapacity of its three existing trains has increased from 6.6 mtpa to 10.2 mtpa in 2006. The debottleneckingproject was completed by a joint venture partnership between Chiyoda Corporation of Japan andTechnip of France.KEY ECONOMIC SECTORS 19