LNG

Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co is in advanced negotiations to buy a minority stake in Qatar’s North Field South LNG expansion, a 16 mtpa liquefaction project being developed at an estimated cost of $17.5 billion. The deal would give Mitsui access to one of the world’s lowest-cost LNG developments.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Air Products, the world-leading liquefied natural gas technology company, has been selected to provide liquefaction equipment and processing for the QatarEnergy LNG expansion at the North Field South (NFS) project in Ras Laffan.

Baker Hughes, the US liquefied natural gas equipment-maker and energy services company, was awarded a major LNG order from QatarEnergy for the North Field South expansion project.

QatarEnergy selected ConocoPhillips as its third and final international partner in the North Field South (NFS) expansion project comprising two LNG mega-Trains with a combined capacity of 16 million tonnes per annum and said free markets in energy were the best ways forward.