By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 9 -- Qatar Petroleum and ConocoPhillips signed a statement of intent (SOI) in Doha Monday preparatory to construction of a world-scale gas-to-liquids plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar.
The SOI initiates detailed technical and commercial preengineering studies and establishes principles for negotiating a heads of agreement (HOA) for the integrated reservoir-to-market GTL project. ConocoPhillips president and CEO Jim Mulva indicated that the participants expect to complete the HOA by yearend 2004.
The project "aims to ensure the optimal utilization of the country's hydrocarbon resources by setting up oil and gas-related projects and diversifying sources of national income," said Abdulla Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Qatar's second deputy prime minister and minister of energy and industry.
Qatar Petroleum and ConocoPhillips earlier this summer had signed an HOA establishing a joint venture to further develop the North natural gas field to support another LNG train¿ Qatargas 3¿at Ras Laffan, which is slated for start-up in 2008-09 (OGJ Online, July 11, 2003).
