Qatargas $1bn gas recovery project eyes ’14 completion

By Pratap John/Chief Business ReporterA pioneering $1bn Qatargas project aimed at recovering gas that would otherwise be flared during LNG ship loading at Ras Laffan is expected to be completed in 2014.The Jetty Boil Off Gas (JBOG) Recovery Project is part of the Common Facilities Projects at Ras Laffan Industrial City. This will enable boiled-off gas to be collected from LNG ships and compressed at a central facility, Qatargas said in its latest newsletter.The compressed gas will then be sent to the LNG producers and consumed as fuel or converted back into LNG. The JBOG Project is one of the cornerstones of Qatargas’ overall flare management strategy and will be instrumental in the company’s drive to reduce and maintain total flaring at regulatory target levels in the long term to protect the environment. The project, when fully operational, will recover the equivalent of some 0.6mn tonnes per year of LNG based on an expected 90% recovery efficiency during normal operations. In flaring units, this works out to approximately 29bn standard cubic feet per year that would otherwise have been flared during LNG ship loading. This is enough to power more than 300,000 homes. In terms of greenhouse gas emission reductions, the above flare recovery amounts to 1.6mn tonnes of CO2 per annum.With an estimated reduction of more than 1mn tonnes of CO2 per annum, the JBOG Project definitely ranks highly in terms of emissions reduction as well as overall environmental and air quality impact mitigation potential. Qatargas, QP and RasGas are focused on reducing emissions and energy usage to the lowest levels possible to meet or beat international standards. The project will, without question, contribute to reducing emissions.Qatargas chief executive officer, Khalid bin Khalifa al-Thani said, “We are very pleased that Qatargas is able to lead this project on behalf of all the LNG producers at Ras Laffan Industrial City.”According to Qatargas, the project is “in the middle of its most critical phase” of construction. The design engineering has been completed and most of the purchased equipment and material are on site. Thousands of workers from Qatargas, Fluor, Qcon, Qatar Kentz and Medgulf and a host of other contractors are building the JBOG project at Ras Laffan. The construction site is spread far and wide. The hub of activity is a small piece of land adjacent to the huge RasGas LNG tanks in Ras Laffan.This area is termed the Central Compressor Area (CCA) and houses six large compressors, which will compress the boiled-off gas.Buildings and concrete structures have come up in the CCA in more than one year and compressors and other equipment have been put in place. Huge steel housings are being built to cover the compressors, while piping installation has started recently.