Laffan Refinery is expected to award contract for the second phase of the project by the end of the year, according to Faisal Al-Suwaidi, CEO and vice chairman of Qatar Gas.
“We expect to award the FEED contract for the expansion project in the coming few weeks,” Al-Suwaidi told Refining and Petrochemicals Middle East Magazine.
“The new expansion project wills double the capacity of the refinery to 296,000bpd by 2015,” he added.
The cost of the expansion of the second phase is estimated to be at around US$900m. “The cost of the first phase of the refinery was around $900m,” said the CEO.
Al-Suwaidi also said that the refinery will supply naphtha feedstock for the Aromatic plant which is expected to be constructed in Ras Laffan Industrial City.
The refinery utilises the field condensate produced from the Qatargas and RasGas facilities. It consists of process units including utility systems, distillation unit, naphtha and kerosene hydrotreaters, a hydrogen unit and a saturated gas plant producing naphtha, kerojet, gasoil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The first phase of the refinery has a production capacity of 61,000 bpsd of naphtha, 52,000 bpsd of kerojet, 24,000 bpsd of gasoil, and 9,000 bpsd of LPG. First loading of refinery products (Naphtha) commenced from Ras Laffan port on 29 September 2009 and since then, the refinery has a ship leaving the port with its product every three days, the company said.
