Qatar breaks ground on world's largest LNG expansion project

Qatar, the world's largest LNG exporter, held a groundbreaking ceremony on October 3 for the North Field expansion project, which will raise the country's LNG production capacity from 77mn tonnes/year to 126mn tonnes/year by 2026.

The project includes six new LNG trains, each with a production capacity of 8mn tonnes/year. Four of the trains will be part of the North Field East expansion project, and two will be part of the North Field South expansion project.

The project is being developed by QatarEnergy in partnership with TotalEnergies, Shell, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Eni, Sinopec, and CNPC.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, CEO of QatarEnergy, said, "This major expansion comes at a crucial time, as natural gas occupies a pivotal position in the energy mix in a world facing geopolitical turbulences and is in dire need of clean energy sources that are in line with the global environmental goals.”

In addition to LNG, the North Field expansion project will also produce 6,500 tonnes/day of ethane, 200,000 barrels/day of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 450,000 barrels/day of condensates, helium, and pure sulfur.