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Qatar condensate refinery gets new Japanese shareholders
AFP
DOHA
Petroleumworld.com 11 28 06Qatar signed an agreement Monday giving four Japanese companies a combined 29 percent stake in an 800-million-dollar gas refinery described as one of the largest being built in the world.
The condensate refinery, which is being built in Ras Laffan Industrial City, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Doha, will have the capacity to process 146,000 barrels per day (bpd) of gas products.
State-run Qatar Petroleum (QP) said in a statement it had signed an amended Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) bringing the four new shareholders -- Idemitsu, Cosmo, Mitsui and Marubeni -- into the Laffan refinery venture.
"Idemitsu and Cosmo will each be taking a 10 percent interest in this new deal, with Mitsui and Marubeni each taking 4.5 percent interest," the statement said.
This reduces QP's share in the refinery to 51 percent, while US oil major ExxonMobil and France's Total will each retain a 10 percent share.
The refinery is due to come on stream in the second half of 2008, and the bulk of its products will go to Asian markets, including Japan.
A South Korean consortium comprising GS Engineering and Construction Corporation and Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd was awarded the contract to build the refinery and storage and export facilities at Ras Laffan last year.
The refinery will produce Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), as well as naphtha, kerosene and gas oil for the export market.
Qatar's giant North Field, which has proven reserves of more than 900 trillion cubic feet (25 trillion cubic meters) of natural gas, is the third largest in the world.
The tiny Gulf emirate has launched a multi-billion-dollar industrialization drive to become the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
AFP 27 2236 GMT 11 06
Copyright© 2001 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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