Qatar closer to flaring cuts at LNG facility

Qatar moves a step closer to ending gas flaring at the world's biggest LNG production complex.

Qatar has moved a step closer to implementing a landmark project to reduce carbon emissions at the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) production complex.
GE Oil & Gas, the oil and gas equipment and services unit of General Electric, said this week it had been chosen to supply electric compressors to the project to capture and use natural gas that evaporates during the loading of tankers at Qatar's main industrial port, from which more than 20 per cent of global LNG supplies are exported. Previously, the gas was burnt as waste because of a lack of infrastructure to collect it at the tanker berths.
"In the first large-scale application of its type, GE Oil & Gas advanced compressor technology is minimising LNG boil-off gas flaring," GE said. "Gas that was previously boiled off and flared during the loading of LNG carriers in Ras Laffan Port will now be collected from the LNG carriers and transferred to a central compression area via large diameter stainless steel pipelines."
After compression, the collected gas will be sent ashore to the 14 large LNG production units at Ras Laffan Industrial City. Starting in 2014, the recovered gas will be used to fuel the giant refrigeration plants that liquefy the gas for export.
"Given the scale and complexity of the LNG venture, this is a milestone boil-off gas recovery project that will enable minimisation of gas flaring to the fullest extent possible, helping conserve Qatar's natural resources," GE said. Qatar, the world's leading LNG exporter, announced the US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) gas recovery project two years ago, characterising it as a major environmental initiative that would significantly reduce the emirate's carbon dioxide emissions while conserving fossil fuel.
The project is expected to recover the equivalent of 600,000 tonnes of LNG a year, enough to power 40,000 homes. But last March, after delays in awarding the main contract, Qatargas said it was reviewing the project.
Qatargas awarded the contract for engineering, procurement and construction work to the US engineering company Fluor last April. It announced the financial go-ahead for the project in September.
Last December, Qatar celebrated meeting a target of expanding its annual LNG production capacity to 77 million tonnes from 30 million tonnes just two years earlier.
 
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