Qatar’s gas giant Qatar Energy announced on Tuesday the award of a $10 billion contract to a joint venture between France’s Technip Energies and Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC). The contract worth “approximately $10 billion” calls for “the construction of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains with a total production capacity of 16 million tons per year” in the North Field South (NFS) field, the company said in a statement.
The signing took place on Tuesday in Doha in the presence of Technip Energies’ Managing Director, Arnaud Pieton, and CCC’s Director in Qatar, Oussama El Jerbi. The North Field South project is, along with the North Field East, an expansion project of the offshore North Field, the largest natural gas field in the world that Qatar shares with Iran.
Technip Energies, a French energy engineering and services company, said it had won a “major” contract in partnership with CCC, without specifying the amount or its share in the joint venture. “Technip holds a comfortable capital majority,” a source close to the company told AFP.
The NFS is 75% owned by Qatar Energy, while the rest is shared by the international companies, TotalEnergies, Shell, and ConocoPhillips. “Qatar Energy is proud to announce another important milestone in the world’s largest LNG project, reinforcing our commitment to meeting global demand for natural gas,” said the company’s CEO and Qatari Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi. The Gulf country, which is already one of the world’s leading LNG producers, along with the United States and Australia, plans to increase its annual production by 60% to 126 million tonnes by 2027, when the North Field South is due to come on stream.
CO2 capture
In addition to the two liquefaction trains, each with a capacity of 8 million tons per year, the contract awarded on Tuesday includes the construction of a facility to capture and store 1.5 million tons of carbon per year. This will reduce “greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25% compared to similar LNG facilities,” according to the Technip Energies press release.
Qatar Energy’s boss, for his part, hailed “an important step towards Qatar Energy’s goal of capturing and sequestering more than 11 million tons of CO2 per year by 2035.” Technip Energies announced earlier this month an 18.3% increase in net income for the first quarter to €81.4 million (approximately $75 million).
“Thanks to buoyant markets for LNG and a cycle of investments by our customers, we anticipate a significant improvement in future order intake in 2023 and 2024,” said Arnaud Pieton at the time. Qatar is a “strategic country” for the company, which has been present there since 1986, according to the statement.
