From the start-up of Qatargas in 1996, through RasGas Train 4, due to start up this year, Qatar LNG has continued to push the technology envelop and push further downstream through the value chain from reservoir, liquefaction, shipping, receiving and ultimate gas sales to the consumer. The start up of RasGas Train 4 this year marked the first "full value chain" project for Qatar.
The ultimate fulfillment of Qatar's quest for scale and integration comes with the Qatargas II LNG Project (QG II), an exciting project which encompasses the full value chain and incorporates new technology and economies of scale unmatched in the LNG industry. The QGII story is one of the integration of technology qualification, value chain integration, and the implementation strategies to reduce overall LNG production/delivery cost by 25%, allowing Qatar to become competitive in more distant markets. The integration of these strategies will be the primary focus of this paper.
Conceived by Qatar Petroleum (70%) and ExxonMobil (30%), the QGII project will expand the existing Qatargas LNG facility at Ras Laffan, Qatar with the addition of two LNG trains, significantly larger than any previously built. Each train will have an LNG production capacity of approximately 7.8 million tonne/yr (MTA). Feed gas will come from the North Field, the largest non-associated gas field in the world. The onshore plant will extract LPGs (propane and butane), which will be fractionated and separately exported from Ras Laffan. Lean LNG will be transported using new, larger LNG ships. A new receiving terminal in the United Kingdom will re-gasify the LNG and send out sales gas into the U. K. NTS (national gas transmission system).
A challenging schedule has been set to achieve new economies of scale, world-class air emissions performance, and the key project objectives of superior safety and environmental performance. First LNG sales in the U. K. are targeted for early 2008.
