Qatar Opens Barzan Gas Plant

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, earlier this week inaugurated the Barzan Gas Plant in a special ceremony held today at Ras Laffan Industrial City.

The Barzan Gas Plant will produce and process natural gas from the giant North Field offshore Qatar, to serve the requirements of local power generation and water desalinization. The plant will also produce associated hydrocarbon products for supply to local refinery and petrochemical industries as well as for export to international markets.

The plant is named after the famed historic Barzan Towers, also known as the Umm Salal Mohammed Fort Towers, which were originally built in the late 19th century.

In his speech at the inauguration ceremony, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, extended said:“This is one of the most important energy projects in the State of Qatar, which adds a high and qualitative value in the effort to meet our domestic natural gas needs, and in supporting Qatar’s comprehensive development and economic growth.”

Al-Kaabi added: “With the Barzan Plant’s various products, we have achieved our important objective of the optimal exploitation of our resources from the North Field, and provided the energy needed for electricity production and water desalination, in addition to the large development projects in the country, including the facilities for hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup and other strategic projects."

The Barzan Gas Plant is capable of producing almost 1.4 billion standard cubic feet of sales gas per day for local power generation and water desalination; 2,000 tons of ethane per day as feedstock for the local petrochemicals industry; 1,500 tons per day of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) for export to international markets; 30,000 barrels of condensate per day for processing in the Laffan Refinery and export to international markets; and 3,500 tons of sulfur per day for export to international markets. Qatargas operates the Barzan Gas Plant on behalf of its shareholders: QatarEnergy (93%) and ExxonMobil (7%).

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