LNG

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French maritime LNG storage technology company, has received a second wave of orders from a Chinese shipyard for tanks for 10 more vessels as part of QatarEnergy’s “Hundred Ships Programme” to handle the deliveries from multiple expansion projects in the Arabian Gulf.

QatarEnergy, the leading LNG exporter and developer of major new liquefaction projects, has celebrated the graduation of a new group of Qatari nationals who have successfully completed their academic studies and training programmes to join the workforces of QatarEnergy and other companies established in the expanding sector.

The Arabian Gulf state of Qatar said it was going ahead with a third huge expansion project for liquefied natural gas called the North Field West (NFW) project to take overall output to 142 million tonnes per annum by the end of the decade.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French maritime LNG storage technology company, has confirmed an order from China for the storage tank designs for eight very large liquefied natural gas carriers, which will be part of QatarEnergy’s “Hundred Ships Programme” to handle the deliveries from the North Field production expansion in the Arabian Gulf.

QatarEnergy, the leading liquefied natural gas supplier, signed a long-term supply agreement with a Singapore subsidiary of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co for one of its other main products from natural gas production in the Arabian Gulf that is now expanding with the North Field LNG projects.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French liquefied natural gas storage technology company, said it received an order for tanks designs for 17 vessels from the South Korea shipyard HD Hyundai Heavy Industries on behalf of a leading LNG player, revealed earlier as QatarEnergy.

Oct 23 (LNGJ) - Italian major Eni became the latest company to sign a long-term LNG supply contract for volumes from the expansion being developed in the Arabian Gulf by QatarEnergy. The Eni cargoes will come from a joint venture with QatarEnergy for the development of the North Field East (NFE) project and will amount to the delivery of up to 1.1 million tonnes per annum of LNG. 

   The Milan-based company said the volumes would be delivered to the floating storage and regasification unit “FSRU Italia” currently berthed in the port of Piombino in Tuscany and deliveries would start in 2026 for a period of 27 years. “This agreement strengthens the partnership between Eni and QatarEnergy and it is a further step in the development of Eni’s integrated global LNG portfolio,” said Eni. The company is already importing around 2.15MT per annum from Qatar under a long term supply agreement signed in 2007.

Shell signed two long-term LNG sale and purchase agreements for the supply of up to 3.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG from Qatar to the Netherlands while also completing the sale of its interests in the Masela block in Indonesia for an LNG project.

TotalEnergies, the French major and a leading global LNG project developer and investor, has awarded engineering, procurement and construction contracts to five companies for the $11 billion Amiral complex project, a world-scale petrochemicals facility expansion at the Satorp refinery in Saudi Arabia as part of a joint venture with Saudi Aramco.

The facility will house the largest mixed-load steam cracker in the Gulf with capacity to produce 1.65 million tons of ethylene and other industrial gases per annum.

Aramco and TotalEnergies have teamed up for this project as the French energy developer also prepares multi-billion dollar investments in LNG joint ventures in the Gulf state of Qatar as well as in Mozambique and the US.

Gulf presence

QatarEnergy selected TotalEnergies as a key international partner in both the North Field South (NFS) liquefaction venture and the North Field East (NFE) project that will take Qatar’s production to 126 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

In addition, the French major is also the operator of the large-scale onshore LNG project in Mozambique that is also moving forward and was recently chosen to partner NextDecade Corp. of the US for the Rio Grande LNG export venture in Texas.

For the Saudi refinery project, the EPC contracts signing ceremony took place in Dhahran in Saudi Arabia attended by Aramco President and Chief Executive Amin H. Nasser and his TotalEnergies counterpart Patrick Pouyanné.

“The award of EPC contracts for the main process units and associated utilities marks the start of construction work on this joint project, following the final investment decision in December 2022,” said TotalEnergies.

Aramco ‘s Nasser said the company was taking a major step forward in further strengthening the partnership between TotalEnergies and Aramco.

“As part of Aramco’s growth strategy, the project is anticipated to contribute to value-addition opportunities in the Kingdom’s downstream ecosystem, and we thank the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Investment for their tremendous support via the Shareek program to make this multi-billion-dollar project a reality,” Nasser stated.

The Kingdom's Shareek program aims to unlock 5 trillion Saudi riyals (US$1.35 trillion) of private-sector investments by 2030, raising private-sector GDP contributions to 65 percent and to increase non-oil exports over time from 16 percent to 50 percent

Integrated

The Saudi Amiral project will be integrated with the existing Satorp refinery in Jubail and the new petrochemical complex is expected to attract more than $4 billion in additional investment in a variety of industrial sectors and create thousands of jobs.

“This expansion reinforces the exemplary relationship that our two companies have enjoyed for several decades,” Pouyanné said.

The EPC contracts list includes South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. to work on a mixed feed cracker and utilities project for related industrial gases and flaring and interconnecting systems that support the main packages.

The Rome, Italy-based company Maire Tecnimont won the contract for two polyethylene units using Advanced Dual Loop technology and the derivative units.

Sinopec Engineering Group Saudi Co. was put in charge of the tank farm and Satorp integration.

Among regional companies, Gulf Consolidated Contractors Co. will work on the transfer pipelines, Mohammed Ali Al-Suwailem Trading & Contracting will build industrial support facilities and Mofarreh Marzouq Al Harbi & Partners is in charge of site preparations.

Technip Energies, the European LNG and energy project engineers, said their joint venture has been awarded an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract by QatarEnergy for the onshore facilities of the North Field South Project (NFS) in the Arabian Gulf.

Technip said its partner for the award is the Middle East-based company Consolidated Contractors Company.

“This award will cover the delivery of two mega-Trains, each with a capacity of 8 million tonnes per annum,” said Technip.

The company added that the work would include a large carbon-capture and sequestration CCS) facility of 1.5 MTPA, leading to 25 percent-plus reduction of greenhouse gas emissions when compared with similar LNG facilities.

The NFS expansion project will produce about 16 MTPA of additional LNG, increasing Qatar’s total production from 110 to 126 MTPA after the North Field East (NFE) project is completed as well.

Mega-Trains

“We are extremely honored to have been awarded by QatarEnergy this mega-LNG project, along with our long-standing partner CCC, a leading construction company for LNG Trains,” explained Arnaud Pieton, Chief Executive of Technip.

“This award is a testament to the trust, extent, and strength of our relationship with QatarEnergy,” added Pieton.

“This new project also reflects our leadership in the LNG market as well as our proven ability to integrate technologies towards low carbon LNG, critical in solving the trilemma for affordable, available and sustainable energy,” declared the CEO.

Technip has been active with a local presence since 1986 in Qatar, which it described as “a strategic country” for the company.

Global LNG engineering firms like Technip are benefiting from the future forecasts of high demand for LNG cargoes. The company posted net profits of €320.2 million ($340.6M) for 2022 compared with €252.4M in 2021.

The company also had a contract backlog of €12.75Bln at the end of December 2022.

The company’s most recent plant to come on stream was the Coral South floating LNG hull that started up in November 2022 offshore Mozambique.