Hosting of the 20th World Petroleum Congress in Doha, for the first time in the Middle East, reflects Qatar’s major contribution to supplying safe and secure energy to a growing global market, said Hamad Rashid Al Mohannadi, Managing Director of RasGas Company Limited (RasGas) yesterday, in his opening remarks at the inaugural forum.
The first block forum titled, “Natural Gas: The Energy That Makes A Difference”, focused primarily on the latest technological developments in liquefaction and shipping and explored recent developments and innovations related to loading and discharge terminals.
He pointed out that it was a timely opportunity for the region’s top energy professionals and stakeholders to showcase advancements across the range of their operations, as well as for energy companies of the Middle East to demonstrate their growing credentials in a highly competitive market.
“ Technology has played a key role in realising the Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani’s vision of achieving 77 million tonnes per annum of LNG production for the State of Qatar, and RasGas has played a significant role in achieving this target ,” said Al Mohannadi.
“ RasGas has demonstrated its ability to be a successful leader in the LNG industry through its commitment to safety, reliability, use of innovative technology and integration across the entire value chain. Today, RasGas has seven LNG Trains in operation, two of which are mega-trains with a capacity of 7.8 million tonnes per annum each. These are amongst the largest in the world ,” said Al Mohannadi.
Al Mohannadi highlighted the growth of Ras Laffan Port, which is now capable of simultaneously receiving LNG ships at six berths, with four berths capable of receiving ships up to Q-Max size.
“ LNG ships have increased in size from the conventional 145,000 cubic metre carriers to the 266,000 cubic metre Q-Max ships. RasGas has 27 of these state-of-the-art vessels in its chartered fleet. This increase in size initiated a change in technology with a move from more conventional steam turbines to the modern slow speed diesel and diesel-electric propulsion ,” Al Mohannadi explained.
Nafez Bseiso, Venture Group Manager in RasGas , also presented a paper, at the same forum, on the application of technological advancements in the LNG value chain. Bseiso said Qatar’s journey to become the largest LNG supplier in the world in a short span of 14 years has seen the development of 14 LNG trains with the application of cutting edge technologies evolving during this period.
“ The application of these technologies has resulted in enhanced efficiency and cost savings, while at the same time is has not only helped to build bigger and more efficient facilities, but has also contributed to the country’s development at an unprecedented pace. This includes a strong commitment to Qatari national development in all aspects of our business .”
“ The fundamentals of “lessons learned” have been effectively applied during this period to continuously improve, by either optimising the selected technology or upgrading to new technologies, ” he said, adding that utilisation and application of new technology has been consistent throughout the “wells to wheels” concept.
RasGas remains committed to the application of technology and programmes that make the organisation a world leader in safety also.
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LNG World News Staff, December 06, 2011