Qatargas 2 comes on stream

Yokohama/Japan and Paris/France – The world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains officially began production on 6 April as part of the USD 13 billion Qatargas 2 project. LNG Trains 4 and 5 in Ras Laffan, Qatar, each have a capacity of 7.8 million t/y. The major shareholders in Trains 4 and 5 are Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil, and Total. Engineering companies Chiyoda and Technip were involved in all aspects of the engineering, procurement and construction of Trains 4 and 5, from front-end engineering to start-up. Construction and commissioning have taken 240 million person-hours so far. The project’s record capacity has been made possible by the use of Air Products’ AP-X three-cycle liquefaction technology. Trains 4 and 5 are the first two of six LNG trains to be built under the three projects (Qatargas 2, Qatargas 3 and 4, and RasGas 3) under construction at Ras Laffan. LNG from Qatargas 2 will be shipped to the UK, where it will supply up to 20% of the country’s natural gas. Qatargas 3 and 4 will supply continental Europe and the US. To supply Qatargas 2, gas from 30 wells in Qatar’s North Field is gathered at three new unmanned offshore platforms, before being transferred to shore via two wet-gas subsea pipelines. As well as the two LNG trains, Qatargas 2 involves 0.85 million t/y of LPG, 140,000 bbl/d of condensate, three storage tanks, power utilities and water injection systems, a fleet of 14 ships, and a receiving terminal.