Qatargas lets contract for Laffan refinery expansion

Oct. 9, 2013
Qatargas has awarded Qatar Kentz WLL, a unit of Kentz Corp. Ltd., a manpower services contract for the Qatargas Laffan refinery Phase 2 (LR2) at Ras Laffan.

Qatargas has awarded Qatar Kentz WLL, a unit of Kentz Corp. Ltd., a manpower services contract for the Qatargas Laffan refinery Phase 2 (LR2) at Ras Laffan. When the expansion opens in 2016, it will double capacity, adding 146,000 b/d of condensate recovered from Qatar’s North field (OGJ Online, Aug. 19, 2011).

Laffan refinery Phase 1 (LR1) currently produces 61,000 b/d of naphtha, 52,000 b/d of jet fuel, 24,000 b/d of gas oil, and 9,000 b/d of LPGs. Qatar Petroleum is the lead shareholder of LR1 with 51%. Remaining shares are spread among ExxonMobil, Total, Idemitsu, and Cosmo each with 10%, and Mitsui and Marubeni, 4.5% each.

Laffan refinery, Qatar’s first condensate refinery, started production in September 2009 and, according to Qatargas, was designed to be one of the largest condensate refineries in the world (OGJ Online, Apr. 11, 2009).

Qatargas says that, in addition to this expansion, some debottlenecking and a new gas oil hydrotreater is to be built in the first refinery LR-1. The company anticipates that, starting next year, gas oil produced will be converted to diesel (<10 ppm sulfur).

Kentz Corp. is a holding company of the Kentz engineering and construction group, registered in London.

Contact Warren R. True at [email protected].