The Peninsula reported that Qatar is set to emerge as a major exporter of liquefied petroleum gas with an annual export capacity projected to grow from about 8 million tonnes currently to about 12 million tonnes in the coming 2 years.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Energy and Industry Affairs, Mr Dr Mohammad bin Saleh Al Sada in his keynote address at the 4th LPG Trade Summit which opened.
The 2 day meet organized by the Centre for Management Technology and hosted by Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Company will be discussing key challenges facing the LPG business, various LPG markets outlook and the impact of the financial crisis in 2008 on the LPG business.
Qatar is currently the world’s largest exporter and trans shipper of liquefied natural gas. 11 of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains in Qatargas and RasGas are now in operation. These include three of the 6 Mega LNG Trains with a capacity of 7.8 million tonnes per annum. With the completion of these Mega trains, which are the largest of their kind in the world, Qatar’s annual LNG export capacity exceeded 54 million tonnes. Each of these mega trains also produces about half a million tonne per annum of LPG.
Mr Al Sada said that “For several years, together with major energy industry partners, Qatar has pioneered new technology and new market approaches to reduce LNG production and transportation cost, through economies of scale and operational efficiencies across the entire value chain. These efforts have resulted in an LNG train design capacity of 7.8 million tonnes of LNG per year and the Q-Flex and the even larger Q-Max LNG Tankers which have about 40% lower energy requirements and carbon emissions than conventional vessels.”
He added that the economies of scale generated by the larger trains and ships, and the receiving terminals, have made it possible for Qatar LNG to reach and compete in all the global gas markets in a reliable and cost effective manner.
Mr Al Sada said that “2009 has been the most intensive year of project activity in Qatar. In addition to the 3 LNG trains, we have recently commissioned a new 146,000 barrels per day condensate refinery which produces naphtha, jet fuel and gas oil. We are also commissioning the next phase of our Al Khaleej Gas project to meet domestic demands and Qatalum.”
He said that in parallel with these gas developments, there is the Oryx GTL, a leading edge Gas to Liquids technology plant with a production capacity of 34,000 barrels per day of specialty products including clean transportation fuels.
He noted that looking to the future, there are several key projects under advanced stages of development that will contribute to further boosting Qatar’s energy and petroleum product exports. In addition to a further three 7.8 MTA LNG mega trains, the year 2010 to 2011 will see the start up of the world scale, 140,000 barrels per day Pearl GTL project.
(Sourced from the Peninsula)
