World’s largest LNG unit goes on stream in Qatar

Qatar has successfully commissioned the RasGas Train 7 reaching another milestone as it added another 7.8 million tones per year to its LNG output. The facility is the world's largest set up under Ras Laffan 3, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (70 per cent) and ExxonMobil Ras Laffan (III) (30 per cent). 

The train is the fourth 7.8 MTPA LNG plant to have been brought online by Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil joint ventures in the last one year. It matches in capacity, one of the largest operating LNG production facilities in the world the RasGas Train  inaugurated by HH the Emir in October 2009. 

These mega facilities have a scale to competitively leverage markets across the globe. With Train 7 start up, the annual LNG production capacity of RasGas has shot up to 36.3MTPA, company managing director and CEO Hamad Rashid al-Mohannadi said yesterday. 

Train 7, like Train 6 is a new generation ''mega-train'' capable of producing 7.8 MTPA which is a huge step up over the 4.7 MTPA of RasGas Trains 3,4 and 5. 

RasGas Train 7 is a component of a full-value chain investment covering associated facilities for natural gas production and liquefaction in Qatar. Affiliates of Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have also invested in around 12 new, more efficient, Q-Flex LNG vessels and one Q-Max LNG vessel. 

According to al-Mohannadi, the  project involved scaling up every aspect of the new train, from pipeline diameters to the machinery used to power the process. He added that RasGas project teams fully embraced these challenges to deliver exceptional results.