LNG

July 5 (LNGJ) - Three LNG cargoes are headed for Belgium as deliveries to other European ports start to decline. The LNG carrier “Lusail” with 142,800 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to discharge a shipment from Qatar on July 6 at the Belgian terminal at Zeebrugge. The cargo was lifted on June 17 from Ras Laffan in the Gulf. A second Qatari cargo is due at the Belgian port on July 14 on board the “Simaisma”, a vessel with capacity of 143,000 cubic metres.

   In between the Qatari deliveries will be the arrival on July 12 of the carrier “Vladimir Rusanov” with a trans-shipment from the Yamal export plant in Arctic Russia lifted on July 2 from the port of Sabetta.

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.

Qatar Gas Transport Company, known as Nakilat, has said that its LNG fleet of 69 vessels would be undergoing dry-dockings in a phased manner through to August 2025.

QatarEnergy, one of the world’s largest LNG exporters, has decided to proceed with the $6 billion petrochemicals joint venture with US partner Chevron Phillips Chemicals near the LNG liquefaction plant at Ras Laffan.

An agreement marking the final investment decision for the project was signed in Doha by Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs and who is also President and Chief Executive of QatarEnergy and Bruce Chinn, President and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical.

The companies created a joint venture under the agreement signed on January 8 called Ras Laffan Petrochemicals.

The deal sees QatarEnergy holding a 70 percent share and Chevron Phillips Chemical 30 percent.

“This marks QatarEnergy’s largest investment ever in Qatar’s petrochemicals sector and the first direct investment in 12 years,” explained Al-Kaabi.

“It will double our ethylene production capacity and increase our local polymer production from 2.6 to more than 4 million tons per annum and place the utmost emphasis on sustainable growth and the environment,” he added.

QatarEnergy said the Ras Laffan complex is expected to begin production in 2026, includes an ethane cracker with a capacity of 2.1 million tonnes per annum, making it the largest ethane cracker in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world.

Derivative units

The integrated complex will also include two high density polyethylene derivative units with a total production capacity of 1.7 million tonnes per annum.

Originally announced in 2019, the project highlights how Middle East oil producers are expanding further into petrochemicals, used in the production of plastics and packaging materials.

“There is no doubt that this cornerstone investment in Ras Laffan Industrial City marks an important milestone in QatarEnergy’s downstream expansion strategy,” said Al-Kaabi

“It will not only facilitate further expansion in the downstream and petrochemical sectors in Qatar, but will also reinforce our integrated position as a major global player in the upstream, LNG and downstream sectors,” he added.

As part of the joint venture Chevron Phillips Chemical will provide project management services.

The engineering, procurement and construction of the ethane cracker will be executed by a joint venture between Samsung Engineering and CTCI Corporation.

Tecnimont will execute engineering, procurement and construction for the polyethylene units.

The polyethylene units will use Chevron Phillips Chemical’s MarTech loop slurry process to produce high-density polyethylene, which will primarily be exported from Qatar.

Polyethylene is used in the production of durable goods like pipes for natural gas and water delivery and recreational products such as kayaks and coolers. It is also used in packaging applications to protect and preserve food and keep medical supplies sterile.

“At Chevron Phillips Chemical, we continue to grow our global asset base where there is access to reliable, affordable feedstock. This investment will help meet global demand for polyethylene products,” said Chinn of Chevron Phillips.

Germany said Chancellor Olaf Scholz would discuss energy supplies, including possible LNG shipments, when he begins a tour on September 25 of the Arabian Gulf states.

A statement said that Scholz was scheduled to visit three countries Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

“The gas offering is slowly broadening,” said German Economics Minister Robert Habeck while visiting the Baltic Coast town of Lubmin.

Lubmin is in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and came to prominence in the gas business by being a landfall for the cancelled Nord Stream II natural gas pipeline under the Baltic from Russia.

Nord Stream II would have doubled German pipeline imports from Gazprom, though the completed project was blocked by the European Commission and also by Chancellor Scholz’s new coalition government that won the elections in September 2021.

Lubmin will now become one of four coastal hubs for LNG imports from the US, other European countries and possibly Qatar and the UAE.

“We must show that in times like these, we can plan, authorize and build faster than is usually the case in Germany,” said Habeck on the plan to site a floating storage and regasification unit at Lubmin.

Habeck is also Vice Chancellor and a member of the Green Party.

Start-ups

The operators of the Lubmin FSRU to be chartered by the German Government is aiming for an operational start-up by the end of 2023.

Germany’s opposition parties that won power before the events in Ukraine have mostly been against using natural gas.

The country was also one of the few leading European Union economies without LNG infrastructure, though one terminal was planned on the Elbe River but constantly opposed and demonstrated against as recently as last year by Habeck's Green Party and its supporters.

They quickly changed their minds on LNG after the gas crisis erupted and it was deemed to be a “transition” fuel by the panicked European Commission late in the day in 2022.

Other German LNG import terminal plans include a mixture of FSRUs and onshore facilities, though a final project list has yet to be published.

Among those advancing is an FSRU venture and a possible onshore facility at the port of Stade on the Elbe River backed by state government of Lower Saxony and by a development company, Hanseatic Energy Hub GmbH.

German is acquiring at least five FSRUs to move away as fast as possible from dependence on Russian pipeline natural gas from Gazprom.

The Stade seaport is situated on the Elbe sea-lane between Hamburg and the Elbe estuary at Cuxhaven and is close to the North Sea.

Chancellor Scholz said in a speech on September 13 that a series of planned new LNG import facilities would be ready for imports by the end of 2023.

He expected facilities to be developed quickly at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven and at Brunsbüttel, located south of Hamburg on the Elbe River and near the entrance to the Kiel Canal.

According to the German government, Wilhelmshaven will become the first LNG hub. Brunsbüttel will be the second to be completed and is backed by the Government, German utilities and the Dutch utility Gasunie.

March 17 (LNGJ) - Qatar is increasing its LNG supplies to the UK this week with three cargoes heading for the two terminals at the Welsh port of Milford Haven from the Qatari plant at Ras Laffan. The 210,100 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Aamriya” is scheduled to discharge a shipment on March 19 at the South Hook facility, according to the port authority.

   The 216,200 cubic metres capacity vessel “Al Rekayyat” is also scheduled to arrive on March 19 at the Dragon regasification terminal, operated by Royal Dutch Shell. The 210,185 cubic metres capacity carrier “Al Bahiya” is then expected on March 21 to berth at the South Hook facility with another cargo.

July 27 (LNGJ) - The 266,000 cubic metres capacity Q-Max carrier “Bu Samra” will deliver a cargo on August 3 to the UK South Hook terminal at the Welsh port of Milford Haven from the Ras Laffan plant in Qatar, the port authorities said. The 155,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “British Sapphire” will deliver a shipment on August 4 to the Bilbao terminal in northwest Spain from the Point Fortin plant in Trinidad.

   The US delivery schedule for China and India is coming back on track, according to shipping data. The 155,000 cubic metres capacity “British Mentor” is scheduled to deliver a cargo on August 13 to the port of Tianjin in northeast China from the US Cove Point plant in Maryland. The 178,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Castillo de Merida” lifted a cargo over the weekend from the Freeport plant in Texas and is headed for the Hazira plant in India with delivery expected around August 23.