Qataris hand out critical US$1Bn contract for North Field West LNG extraction

QatarEnergy has awarded an EPCC contract, advancing work on an LNG extraction project that the parastatal said will bring in a further 16M tonnes per annum (mta) of natural gas.

The contract is for the North Field West (NFW) project, the third major expansion phase of Qatar’s North Field, the world’s largest known non-associated natural gas field. Officially announced by QatarEnergy in February 2024, the project aims to increase the nation’s total liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity to 142 mta by the end of 2030. The first LNG cargo from the NFW project is expected to be produced by the end of 2031.

Qatar said the engineering, procurement, and construction contract related to the onshore LNG plant for the NFW project, which the company called "a key component of the world’s largest LNG expansion, and the last in a series of expansion projects".

A joint venture (JV) made up of Technip Energies, Consolidated Contractors Co (CCC), and Gulf Asia Contractor (GAC) won the contract. The award was marked by a signing ceremony held at QatarEnergy’s headquarters in Doha and attended by senior executives from QatarEnergy, QatarEnergy LNG, and the EPC contractors’ member companies, including Qatar’s Minister for Energy Affairs and QatarEnergy chief executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Technip Energies chief executive Arnaud Pieton, CCC chairman Samer Khoury and GAC managing director Dr Ravi Pillai.

The contract awardees classified the contract as ’major’, indicating a valuation of more than €1.0Bn (US$1.2Bn) in revenue.

According to a statement from the JV, the award covers the delivery of two so-called mega trains, each with a capacity of 8 mta of liquefied natural gas. They are, the JV said, to be a replication of the two trains currently under construction by Technip Energies and CCC for the North Field South (NFS) project.

"This award reflects not only the continuity of our engagement across the North Field developments, but also a crucial contribution to meeting growing global LNG demand," Mr Pieton said.

As with Qatar’s related North Field East and North Field South (NFS) expansion projects, the NFW facilities are intended to include carbon capture and sequestration facilities. Plans expect the NFW facility to capture and sequester 1.1 mta of CO2 to bring the total target CO2 capture to 2.2 mta from NFS and NFW combined.

The offshore portion of the project, the North Field West extraction site, is located within the North Field, approximately 100 km off the northeast shore of the Qatar peninsula in the Arabian Gulf.