Qatar to produce 14 mln tonnes of LPG
QP ponders expansion of Ras Laffan refinery
Posted: 10 September 2007
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QATAR is set to boost its liquefied petroleum gas output to nearly 14 million tonnes tonnes a year by 2010 to become one of the world’s top LPG producers, according to Qatari Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah.
” Qatar, together with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will become key players in the Middle East LPG production and export business in the coming years. And in a few years Qatar will emerge as one of the largest LPG exporting countries in the world,” Attiyah told the Middle East LPG conference in Doha last month.
” Most of the Qatari projects that would produce LPG were already funded and under construction utilising North Field gas.”
He said there was a considerable demand for LPG from petrochemical units besides the utilities, adding that these units can use LPG as an alternative feedstock.
” Qatar would tap both the export and the domestic markets with its increasing LPG production,” he told hundreds of officials and experts.
He note that natural gas and products extracted from it will support the further development and diversification of Qatar’s industrial sector, which include one of the world’s largest aluminum smelter together with Norsk Hydro (Norway), the 146,000bpd Ras Laffan Condensate Refinery and other petrochemical projects.
” The development of the North Field resource is accompanied by a significant increase in natural gas byproducts, especially condensate, sulphur and LPG, most of which will be exported through the Ras Laffan Port.
” The Ras Laffan Port is expected to be very busy in the coming years. Also, the volume of product exports will considerably increase in the next five years or so.
It was in this context that the government had decided to set up a dedicated marketing company for export of regulated products such as LPG, condensate, refined products and sulphur.”
The company, called Tasweeq, has been established based under an Emiri Decree and will be 100 per cent owned by the Qatar government.
“It will be totally independent of Qatar Petroleum. This is because QP is an energy producer and it is not ideal to put it in charge of a marketing company that deals with the export of regulated products,” al-Attiyah said.
In local press remarks later, Attiyah said QP is studying the expansion of Ras Laffan Condensate Refinery as Phase 1 would be completed by the end of 2008.
“ We are on schedule. Construction activity has peaked at the Ras Laffan refinery site,” he said, adding that a decision on launching Phase 2 would be taken at the appropriate time. “We are now diligently studying the condensate refinery expansion plans.”
Ras Laffan Refinery is a joint venture among QP (80 per cent), ExxonMobil (10 per cent) and Total (10 per cent). The refinery, a 100 per cent export-oriented project will produce LPG, naphtha, heavy naphtha, kerosene, propane and butane using North Field condensate. Qatargas will operate the refinery.
Al-Attiyah said the lack of refining capacity was a problem not only for consumers but also producers. The last refinery constructed in the US was some three decades ago.
“Even in Qatar we face inadequate refining capacity. Two years ago we were exporting diesel. Now we are importing diesel. It is a fact,” al-Attiyah said. |
