Qatar’s RasGas will start work on the $8.7bn Barzan Gas Project on November 1 and it is expected to supply Qatar’s domestic energy market for the coming years, an executive at the energy firm told Arabian Business.
“The Barzan Gas Project is domestic, it is for local demand… We will be installing November 1,” Abdulla Hashim, public affairs manager at RasGas Company, exclusively told Arabian Business on the sidelines of an award ceremony in Doha.
Hashim confirmed the first train – or unit at the production facility – will be ready in 2014 and the second train will be completed in 2015.
“It will cover all the needs of Qatar for power for the future,” he added.
RasGas, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil , is one of two LNG producers in Qatar, the world’s largest LNG exporter with the capacity to produce 77 million tonnes a year of gas chilled to liquid form.
Qatar’s former energy minister confirmed the cost of the project in January and said the delay in its starting was down to costs.
“We had to hold back because in 2010 the tender was for $11bn, and now we managed to save $2.4-2.5bn by having it this year,” Abdullah al Attiyah told reporters in Doha.
Initial talks took place in 2007 between Qatar Petroleum, which has a 93 percent stake, and oil major Exxon Mobil, which owns the remaining share.
Qatar produces about 2.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day for the domestic market and plans to increase that amount to 4 billion by 2015. The Barzan project is expected to produce 1.4 billion cubic feet of North Field gas a day, which will be used to meet the growing demand of the domestic market.
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