Qatar Petroleum has taken final investment decision (FID) on the North Field East project
Wood Mackenzie research director Giles Farrer said, “At 32mn tonnes per annum (mmtpa), this is the largest single LNG project sanctioned in history and at US$28.75bn is likely to be the biggest project sanctioned across the global upstream business this year.”
“At a long-term breakeven price of just over US$4 per million British thermal units, it’s right at the bottom of the global LNG cost curve, alongside Arctic Russian projects.
“As long-term contracts to sell LNG from some of its existing projects expire and Qatar adds new capacity from North Field East and Golden Pass in the US, Qatar is going increasingly long on volume.
“We estimate it will have over 75 mmtpa of uncontracted LNG volume to sell by 2027, around 70% of its LNG portfolio. Qatar’s decision to construct a carbon capture and storage facility, as well as additional environmental investments, shows that LNG suppliers are increasingly putting focus on ways that they can mitigate their carbon emissions.
“This focus on low-cost supply and carbon emissions is proving attractive to buyers. Last year, QP Trading won a tender to supply Pavilion Energy with 1.8 mmtpa of LNG under a 10-year contract, with specific provisions for assessing and measuring the emissions associated with each LNG cargo delivered.
“The award of the engineering, procurement and construction contract to Chiyoda and Technip is not a surprise given their historic involvement in the existing trains, but will be welcome news, particularly for Chiyoda, after some of its recent challenges building projects in the US and Indonesia.”
