The two companies will engineer and build LNG trains 4 and 5 for the Qatargas II consortium at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar. Chiyoda will oversee key portions of the project and take up about 60% of the total order, the biggest ever received by a Japanese engineering firm.
The plant is due to come onstream in 2008 and will have an annual production capacity of about 15.6 million tons. This will make it by far the world’s largest LNG facility, more than tripling the 4.7-million-ton capacity of the largest existing LNG plant, which is also in Qatar.
Qatargas II is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (70%) and ExxonMobil (30%) and is the largest integrated LNG project ever undertaken.
Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil recently announced they were starting several significant activities to advance the $US12 billion Qatargas II project, which will supply LNG from Qatar to the UK by the winter of 2007/8.
Critical milestones had been reached included the signing of letters of authorisation and of financing documents securing funds to execute the project, as well as the formation of two new companies to manage aspects of the project.
Letters of authorisation have been signed with Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors for the construction of platform topsides, pipelines and two 7.8 million-ton-per-year (MTA) LNG trains at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar. The value of the associated contracts is about US$4.5 billion, according to ExxonMobil.
Qatargas II and South Hook LNG Terminal Co Ltd have signed financing documents securing funds to execute the project. US$7.6 billion was raised from 57 institutions, the largest energy project financing ever, and the first ever financing on a full LNG chain-integrated basis.
In addition, two new companies have been formed to manage the LNG importation, terminal operations and sales of natural gas to ExxonMobil Gas Marketing Europe for on-selling to UK markets. Qatar Petroleum and its affiliates own 70% of the new companies; ExxonMobil and its affiliates hold the remaining 30% stake.
