Qatar Petroleum has invited three groups to bid for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages for four new LNG trains its North Field Expansion (NFE) project in Qatar. The three EPC joint ventures are the following: Chiyoda Corporation - Technip; JGC Corporation - Hyundai Engineering and Construction; and Saipem - McDermott - CTCI Corporation. More specifically, the tender calls for the engineering, procurement and construction of the four mega-LNG trains along with gas and liquid treatment facilities (ethane and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production and fractionation, a Helium plant, and utilities and infrastructure to support the processing units). The EPC contract is expected to be awarded in January 2020.
The four new trains are part of Qatar Petroleum's plans to expand the domestic LNG production from the current 77 Mt/year to 110 Mt/year by 2024 (+43%). In January 2019, the Ministry of Energy and Industry of Qatar also announced plans to order 60 new LNG carriers (LNGCs), which will be built by South Korean shipbuilders.