QatarEnergy has broken ground on its 48-million tonne/year (tpy) North Field Expansion project, which will increase the country’s LNG production to 126 million tpy by 2026. His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, laid the project’s foundation stone earlier this week.
QatarEnergy’s partners in the project—which will use six 8-million tpy trains, four dedicated to the North Field East expansion, and two to the North Field South expansion—are TotalEnergies SE, Shell PLC, ConocoPhillips Co., ExxonMobil Corp., Eni SPA, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), and China National Petroleum Corp.
In addition to LNG, the project will produce 6,500 tons/day of ethane for use in local petrochemical production. It will also make about 200,000 b/d LPG (propane and butane), 450,000 b/d of condensate, and “large quantities” of helium and sulfur.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries last month agreed to build 17 LNG carriers for QatarEnergy. The ships will be used for both the North Field Expansion and to transport LNG from its 18-million tpy Golden Pass joint venture with ExxonMobil near Port Arthur, Tex. (OGJ Online, Sept. 27, 2023).