QatarEnergy said on 16 May that it has awarded the major engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for its North Field South (NFS) Project to a joint venture of France’s Technip Energies and Greece-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC).
The NFS Expansion Project and the company’s North Field East (NFE) expansion project combined will boost the country’s LNG production capacity from its current 77 mtpa to 126 mtpa by 2027.
The state-owned energy giant confirmed that the award “comprises two LNG mega trains with a combined capacity of 16 million tpa.”
“QatarEnergy is proud to announce yet another significant milestone in the world’s largest LNG project, reinforcing our commitment to meeting the global demand for natural gas,” said QatarEnergy chief executive Saad Serida Al Kaabi.
He added that the NFS project is a “unique development that minimizes its environmental footprint by design. It includes one of the largest CO2 capture and sequestration facilities and constitutes an important step towards achieving QatarEnergy’s target of more than 11 million tpa of CO2 capture and sequestration by 2035."
The value of the EPC contract is around $10 billion, with a scope that includes the construction of the LNG mega trains with a capacity of 8 mtpa each, associated gas treatment facilities, natural gas liquids recovery, helium extraction, and refining within the Ras Laffan Industrial City, the company said.
QatarEnergy said that in addition to the CCS facilities, the environmental attributes of the NFS include a significant amount of the project’s electrical power generated at its solar power facilities currently under construction in Ras Laffan Industrial City.
The project also includes a “jetty boiloff gas” recovery system to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will also conserve 5 million cubic meters of water per year by recovering 75% of the plant's tertiary water. Nitrogen oxide emissions will be minimized through the application of enhanced dry low NOx technology, the company said.
QatarEnergy (formerly Qatar Petroleum) took 100% ownership of Qatargas Liquefield Natural Gas Company Ltd. on 1 January 2022 with the expiration of its joint venture with TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil, Marubeni Corp., and Mitsui & Co. Ltd., a partnership that had laid the foundation of Qatar’s LNG industry in 1984.
In September 2022, QatarEnergy selected TotalEnergies as its first international partner in the NFS expansion project. Just 1 month later, the company announced that it had selected Shell and ConocoPhillips as partners in the project.
TotalEnergies and Shell each hold an effective net participating interest of 9.375% and ConocoPhillips holds a 6.25% interest in the NFS project (out of a total 25% interest available for international partners) while QatarEnergy will hold a 75% interest.
According to QatarEnergy, the North Field Expansion Project, comprising NFS and the NFE expansion, is the industry’s largest LNG project. It will start production in 2026.
