Qatargas Launches Fully Integrated LNG Value Chain

Tom Arnold, Arabian Business News

Qatargas on Monday inaugurated Qatargas 2, the world’s first fully integrated value chain liquefied natural gas (LNG) venture.

The project’s LNG trains, as LNG production units are known, represent a 50 percent increase on any performance previously achieved in the global energy industry, the company said in a release.

The UK received its first shipment of the fuel last month from Qatargas 2, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and oil companies ExxonMobil and Total.

Qatargas 2 consists of three offshore unmanned platforms, two LNG trains, five storage tanks, two loading berths, a fleet of 14 LNG ships and a receiving terminal in Milford Haven, Wales.

The specially built South Hook terminal is the main destination for the LNG, which will be supplied to customers in the UK natural gas market.

Qatargas 2 is capable of supplying up to 20 percent of UK’s natural gas requirements, the company said.

On Monday, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, inaugurated the project at Ras Laffan City, in front of an audience that included Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, who witnessed the event on behalf of the UK.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent a video message congratulating Qatar on the event.

Qatar holds the world’s third-largest reserves of gas, a cleaner-burning fuel than coal popular with countries looking to control emissions.

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