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QatarEnergy seeks revised prices for LNG trains

9 March 2023

QatarEnergy has asked contractors to submit revised commercial offers for the two new liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains that constitute the main onshore package of the North Field South project – the next development phase of Qatar’s LNG expansion programme.

Each LNG train will have a capacity of 7.8 million tonnes a year (t/y) and will increase QatarEnergy’s LNG production capacity to 126 million t/y when commissioned in 2028.

QatarEnergy received commercial bids for the two LNG trains on 15 February, MEED previously reported.

Upon initial evaluation of commercial bids, QatarEnergy is understood to have reached out to bidders with requests for reducing their prices by up to 15 per cent, according to sources.

Bidders are preparing to submit revised prices for the North Field South LNG trains by 17 March, one source said.

Two consortiums are understood to be bidding for the North Field South LNG trains package:

  • Chiyoda (Japan) / Technip Energies (France)
  • CTCI (Taiwan) / Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea) / Saipem (Italy)

QatarEnergy issued the estimated $6bn tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the North Field South LNG trains in April last year. Contractors submitted technical bids for the package on 20 October, as MEED previously reported.

Technip Energies has performed the front-end engineering and design (feed) works on the package.

North Field East LNG scheme

EPC works have started for the four main packages of QatarEnergy’s North Field East (NFE) LNG project, which will increase Qatar’s LNG output to 110 million t/y by 2025 from its existing capacity of 77.5 million t/y.

Launched in 2017, the NFE project constitutes the first phase of QatarEnergy’s $28.75bn North Field LNG expansion project.

The EPC works on the NFE project were divided into six packages – four onshore and two offshore.

ALSO READ: Qatar fires on all cylinders with gas strategy

QatarEnergy awarded a $13bn contract for NFE package 1 to a consortium of Japan’s Chiyoda and TechnipEnergies on 8 February 2021. The package covers the EPC of four LNG trains, with each train planned to have an output capacity of about 8 million t/y.

In March 2021, QatarEnergy awarded South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corporation a $2bn contract for executing EPC works on the second NFE package. This will expand the LNG storage and loading facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC).

In August, QatarEnergy awarded the third NFE package to Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas. The scope of work on the package covers EPC works to expand the storage and loading facilities for condensates, propane and butane and increase the import facilities for mono-ethylene glycol within RLIC.

A 70:30 joint venture of Tecnicas Reunidas and China’s Wison Engineering won the $600m EPC contract for the fourth NFE package in April this year, related to the building of sulphur handling, storage and loading facilities.

As well as an LNG output of some 32 million t/y, NFE will produce 4,000 tonnes a day (t/d) of ethane as feedstock for future petrochemical developments, 260,000 barrels a day (b/d) of condensates, 11,000 t/d of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and 20 t/d of helium.

ALSO READ: Qatar scripts success story for LNG sector

Between June and July last year, QatarEnergy completed selecting stakeholders in the NFE scheme.

The state enterprise has divested a total stake of 25 per cent in the NFE programme, billed as the single largest project in the history of the LNG industry.

France’s TotalEnergies, Italian energy company Eni, US oil and gas producers ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, and UK/Netherlands-based Shell have collectively pooled over $7bn into the NFE project.

QatarEnergy has also completed the selection process for international partners in the NFS LNG project. Out of the 25 per cent share available for foreign stakeholders, TotalEnergies and Shell have won 9.375 per cent stakes each, while ConocoPhillips has secured a 6.25 per cent stake.

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Indrajit Sen

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