GULF & GAS

Ras Laffan Port loads four LNG carriers simultaneously

2009-03-30T02:06:00.000-07:00

The world’s largest LNG export facility at Ras Laffan has crossed another milestone by simultaneously loading four tankers on March 22, 2009.

“Only Ras Laffan Port has the capability to load four LNG tankers at the same time,” a spokesman for Ras Laffan Industrial City said yesterday. With four operational LNG berths, Ras Laffan Port is already the world’s top liquefied natural gas exporting facility. The tankers that were loaded were 135,000 cu m ‘Al Khor’ (Berth LNG1), 136,000 cu m ‘Disha’ (Berth LNG2), 145,700 cu m ‘AlJassasiya’ (Berth LNG3) and 216,000 cu m ‘Al Hamla’ (Berth LNG4).
Additionally, two new berths - LNG5 and LNG6 - are under construction and will be operational by 2011.

Chiyoda Awarded a Long Term EPCM Services Contract for LNG and Gas Processing Plants in Qatar

2009-03-30T02:01:00.000-07:00

Chiyoda Corporation, Japan’s leading engineering and construction firm, announces that a contract has been concluded between RasGas Company Limited (RasGas) and Chiyoda Almana Engineering L.L.C (CAEL) for Long Term
Engineering, Procurement, Construction management (EPCm) Services for small to medium sized projects.

1. Client RasGas Company Limited. (Shareholders: Qatar Petroleum 70%, ExxonMobil 30%)
2. Contract Period: Four (4) years starting March 2009. (RasGas also has the option to extend for a further year)
3. Objective: CAEL will provide EPCm services as a long-term partner for small to medium sized projects for a total of seven LNG plants and two large-sized gas processing plants and other facilities owned by RasGas. This includes two mega-sized LNG plants (each capacity: 7.8 MMTPA) and a large-sized gas processing plant which are now under construction by Chiyoda and Technip (France) Joint Venture in Ras Laffan, Qatar.
4. Total contract value: Approx. US$ 300Million (Estimated by RasGas)
5. Chiyoda, who has constructed a considerable number of LNG and gas processing plants in Qatar, has jointly established Chiyoda Almana Engineering L.L.C along with a local company (Al-Mana Group), mainly to support post-construction plant operation for Qatari clients.

Chiyoda believe that its continuous and reliable service to RasGas and the establishment of the above support systems for clients were much-admired by RasGas.

On the Natural Gas Hydrates 3

2009-03-22T00:41:00.000-07:00

On the Natural Gas Hydrates 2

2009-03-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

On the Natural Gas Hydrates

2009-03-22T00:39:00.000-07:00

Natural Gas Hydrates: Brief Introduction

2009-02-11T01:21:00.000-08:00

Natural gas hydrates are fascinating compounds. In the production and processing of natural gas they are problematic, well known for plugging the pipes and damaging process equipment, which is the one of the biggest problems for the gas processing companies across the world. On the other hand, on the ocean bottom it is thought that vast amounts of hydrocarbons are trapped in these solid components, waiting for technically feasible means of production. Finally, hydrates have always been an academic curiosity. New aspects of hydrates are discovered annually and new theories must replace old ones.

In 1811 Sir Humphry Davy, who gained fame for both his research on the methane-laden atmospheres in British coalmines and his synthesis of various new elements and compounds, witnessed the first chlorine hydrate crystallizing. 185 years later, natural gas hydrates have begun to play an important role in energy business. From being a mere chemical curiosity, they have proven to be a nuisance for the natural gas industry. Their importance increased in the 1970s, when they began to plug even the largest pipelines from offshore or arctic fields or the wells from high-pressure underground storage facilities.

Studies over the past two decades indicate that large gas hydrate plugs form most often after shut-in pipelines or wells begin to flow. When a pipeline is shut-in, the fluid separates into the gas water and hydrocarbons as the temperature decreases.

These days, I am looking into this phenomena and associated problems in local gas industry in Qatar. I will keep you all posted about the latest developments and technologies on hydrates problem in all aspects.

LNG faces yo-yo effect in supply and demand

2009-02-10T00:35:00.000-08:00

The liquefied natural gas business faces many years of imbalance in supply and demand, a leading industry figure has warned.

BG North America senior vice-president Betsy Spomer said there could be an initial period of a few years when production outpaces demand, followed by a supply crunch, possibly starting in 2012.Ms Spomer said a surge in global LNG production capacity over the next three years was coming at a time of shaky demand and may encourage a buyer’s market in the product for a few years.

LNG supplies are forecast to rise 50% to 275m tonnes between 2009-2012, as new projects in Qatar, Indonesia, and Russia come on stream.Much of this will come from Qatar, which recently confirmed it was on track to double its capacity by 2011-2012 to 77m tonnes.

At the same time, expectations for the increase in short-term demand, particularly in the US, have been retreating.

For example, the US Energy Information Administration has this week again reduced its forecast for the nation’s 2009 LNG imports, this time to about 400bn cu ft from the prediction of 410bn cu ft a month ago. At the beginning of this year, the administration forecast that 2009 imports would reach 1,179bn cu ft.

Qatar plans to increase natural gas output to 77mn tons by 2012

2009-02-10T00:06:00.000-08:00

Qatar expects to increase its liquefied natural gas (LNG) output capacity to 77mn tons a year by the end of 2012, Hammad Mubarak Al-Muhannadi, operations group manager at Rasgas said. Qatar has a new production line starting up next spring and another in autumn 2009. Train six will be producing LNG sometime between March and May next year, with another production line coming online next October. Al-Muhannadi added that the LNG market will grow slightly starting from next year. Qatar , the world's largest exporter of LNG, negotiates with Kuwait to supply it with LNG. Qatari LNG is produced mainly from state-owned Qatar Petroleum’s RasGas and Qatargas.

Pearl GTL

2008-11-19T00:52:00.000-08:00

Just what it takes...

Structured steel: over 100,000 tonnes
Concrete: in excess of 490,000 cubic meters
Piping: around 100,000 tonnes
Cable: 7,600 kilometers - the distance from London to New Orleans
Pieces of equipment: over 100,000 tonnes
Catalysis: over 5,000 tonnes
Man-hours to be worked: more than 200 million
Workers: more than 35,000
The site for Pearl GTL is 2.5 square kilometers, the size of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens in London put together.

Bahrain Finalizes Gas Deal with Iran

2008-11-03T02:56:00.000-08:00

According to the Gulf Daily News, Bahrain has reached an agreement with Iran for the import of one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day via pipeline. The oil and gas minister of Bahrain, Abdulhussain Mirza, met with his Iranian counterpart, Ghulam Hussain Nowzari, on October 20 to discuss the terms of the deal. The agreement envisions further negotiations on both price and term. Dr. Mirza noted that “the idea is to secure enough gas supply for [Bahrain’s] future needs.”Bahrain plans to construct an LNG regasification terminal in order to import gas from other countries as well.

Iran and Qatar consider gas alliance with Gazprom

2008-11-03T02:53:00.000-08:00

Iran and Qatar are to meet with the head of Russian oil giant Gazprom on 21 October to discuss potential gas co-operation opportunities.

Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari, is to host the trilateral session in Tehran with Qatar Energy Minister, Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah and Gazprom chairman, Alexei Miller, according to Iran's official energy news agency Shana.

The three countries have the world's largest natural gas reserves, with Russia holding 1,576 trillion cubic feet (tcf), Iran second with 981 tcf and Qatar third with 900 tcf.

Russia is also due to host a meeting of major gas exporters on 17 November, who will discuss the possible creation of a gas charter.

Russia has previously shown interest in creating an Opec-style gas group, working with members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum including Iran, Qatar, Venezuela, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia and Libya.

Qatar LNG to Holland?

2008-10-25T02:21:00.000-07:00

Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Maria van der Hoeven, said in Qatar, “We are interested in Qatari gas. After the completion of our regasification terminal in a few years, we will be able to receive LNG from Qatar.”There are three proposed Dutch terminals currently, Eemshaven, GATE, and Lion-Gas Terminal, each of which is anticipated to come online in the next five years. The most advanced terminal, the $1.1 billion GATE terminal being developed by Gasunie, Vopak, andE.ON, is nearing the construction phase currently. The terminal developers reached a final investment decision back in December 2007. Van der Hoeven also noted Holland’s interest in spot cargoes: “[w]e would like to welcome LNG tankers from Qatar to Rotterdam. LNG would enable us to diversify and buy gas from new suppliers like Qatar. Besides, it would also give an impulse to the development of a spot market.”

DOE aims to store CO2 and recover CH4 simultaneously

2008-10-08T05:25:00.000-07:00

The US Department of Energy and its Southwest Regional Partnership recently began to inject carbon dioxide into a large coalbed while recovering natural gas, DOE's Fossil Energy Office announced on last month. It is said that the planned injection of CO2 in a sic month demonstration near Navajo City, NM, differs from other enhanced CBM recovery projects because it will attempt to maximize permanent storage of the CO2 in a process called geologic carbon sequestration using process known as enhanced coal-bed methane recovery.

Many coalbeds in the United States are saturated with natural gas (methane), but the gas is difficult to produce because methane typically binds to coal. However, CO2 shares the same tendency and injecting it into the coalbed essentially displaces the methane and makes the gas easier to produce.

Favorable geology, high methane content, available CO2 from nearby power plants, low capital and operating costs, and well-developed natural gas and CO2 pipelines made the San Juan Basin, which is considered one of the top-ranked basins worldwide for CBM, a prime candidate for value-added CO2 sequestration. Due to the tendency of coal to swell when in contact with CO2, high initial coal permeability is required to maintain CO2 injection rates (high injectivity) over time.

2008 Nobel Chemistry Awards

2008-10-08T05:16:00.000-07:00

2008 Nobel Price in Chemistry goes to Osamu Shimomura, Roger Tsien and Martin Chalfie for the discovery and the development of the green flourescent protein "GFP".

ATILHAN RECEIVES RESEARCH AWARD FROM QATAR UNIVERSITY

2008-09-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

I just wanted share some good news about myself through these lines. Last week, Sep. 18th, I was honored by Qatar University with 2008 Qatar University Research Award during Academic Convocation. It was a little bit surprize for me. President of the Qatar University Prof. Sheikha Abdulla Al Misnad honored me with the award along with VP for Research Dr. Hassan Al Derham.

In the early beginning of my career, I was honored with such award... I would like to thank to colleagues in Doha, Qatar; College Station, TX/US; in Burgos - Spain; in Celeya - Mexico and in Santa Barbara - CA/USA.

Let's keep up the good work...

Some reflections from press and www

What is happening with the "Oil Prices"?

2008-09-23T04:09:00.000-07:00

There has been a debate going on the recent spikes and fluctuations in the oil prices. A colleague of mine was telling me about the benchmark of the lowest oil prices will be revisited in most of the middle-east countries especially Saudi Arabia. Having said that, it reminded me what OPEC president Chakib Khelil said about how the future oil prices will be determined by the evolution of the U.S. dollar and its geopolitical situation.

We all have been reading about the rumors and speculations on how the oil prices are kept artificially high. Recently, oil prices spiked again due to shocking economical earthquake started last week in Wall Street. This obvious increase was expected. But the question is after few weeks of reversed trend in oil prices, whether this strong spike is inflated or not by the speculators.

Qatar has highest CO2 emission

2008-09-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

“Qatar has the highest carbon dioxide emissions per capita,” Mohammed Jassim Al-Maslamani, Member of Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR), said yesterday while talking to the media. He was speaking on the sidelines of the GCC Prize for "Best Environmental Activities" announcement. This is not a good indicator for Qatar's booming economy. Qatar has world's 15% of proven natural gas reserves and its booming gas processing industry has already started to give back to Qatar. However, as a side dish, Qatar now facing huge amount of CO2 emissions. Researchers at Gas Processing Center (GPC) of Qatar University and Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) have already started tacking CO2 absorption and sequestration issues.

Qatar: Petroleum Sector Contributes 55.7%

2008-09-11T05:25:00.000-07:00

According to Al-Sharq newspaper (June, 2008), a recently released report by the Qatari Chamber of Commerce shows that the product value of Qatar petroleum and gas sector's GDP rose to QR 129.4 billion in 2007, up from QR 103 billion in the previous year. This value represented 55.7% of Qatar's total GDP compared with 44.3% in 2006.

Gulf and Gas

2008-09-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

These days, the persian gulf and natural gas is more important than ever. As a professor in Qatar University, I'll be blogging about recent activities and breaking news.