Qatar Pushes Back LNG Expansion But Still Plots Dominance

10 Apr 2020 Issue: 63 / 15 By: Jamie Ingram

Industry capex cuts provide Qatar with a golden opportunity to reassert its LNG dominance. While it is delaying expansion by one year, pushing ahead to deter rival FIDs appears the best option in the current low-price environment.

Qatar has pushed back first gas from its gigantic LNG expansion project by one year to 2025. Speaking to Reuters on 6 April, CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said that the overall delay stems from contractors requesting that bidding for a key EPC award be pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The EPC award covers the first four new 7.8mn t/y liquefaction trains, which will bring LNG capacity up from 77mn t/y to 110mn t/y. Two further trains were added to the expansion plan late last year (MEES, 29 November 2019), more than six months after bids for the original four trains had been requested from the three shortlisted JVs (MEES, 19 April 2019). The additional two trains, bringing capacity to 126mn t/y by 2027, are therefore not included in this initial EPC contract and are to be tendered separately. (CONTINUED - 980 WORDS)