Qatargas closing in on awards for $10 billion-plus liquefaction package contract

Qatargas is set to finalise its preferred bidder within weeks for a lucrative multibillion-dollar deal to provide the liquefaction facilities required for the second phase of the North Field expansion project. The operator is presently weighing commercial bids submitted by two leading contracting groups and could select the winner as early as this month. Price bids were recently submitted to the Qatari state giant for the North Field South (NFS) development after being delayed on a few occasions. NFS comprises the second development phase of the North Field expansion. The first phase, North Field East (NFE), is already under execution. A JV between Italy’s Saipem, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Taiwan’s CTCI, and another group comprising Japan’s Chiyoda and France-headquartered Technip Energies are said to have submitted commercial offers. Qatargas, on behalf of parent company QatarEnergy, is carrying out the tender process for the NFS expansion project, comprising multiple onshore and offshore packages. Altogether, Qatar’s ambitious North Field expansion scheme is expected to cost the emirate up to $50bn. The liquefaction trains package alone could potentially be valued at more than $10bn, taking into account recent price escalation, sources have pointed out. The workscope on offer includes the EPC of two LNG trains, each with a capacity of almost 8 MTPA. It also involves the design of two additional trains of similar capacity as an option that can be taken up in future. The newly launched second phase is part of the emirate’s plan to ramp up its LNG production capacity to 126 MTPA in the coming years, compared with 77 MTPA at present. The NFE expansion phase alone will increase the emirate’s capacity to 110 MTPA by 2026, giving it a stronger foothold in key Asia-Pacific and European markets.