Qatargas has announced the safe start-up of the Jetty Boil-off Gas Recovery (JBOG) project in Ras Laffan Industrial City.  This landmark $1 billion environmental project is designed to eliminate flaring at the LNG terminal.  

 

The main shareholders of the JBOG project are Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Total, ConocoPhillips and Shell, while the facilities are operated  by Qatargas and RasGas, the two largest LNG producers in the world.  

 

The JBOG facilities started up successfully during the first week of October, and have been performing safely and reliably, according to a Qatargas release.  Around 100 million standard cubic feet per day (mscfd) of natural gas which used to be burnt and wasted during LNG ship loading is now being recovered and utilised in the LNG production plants as fuel.  Over a period of 30 years, the JBOG project will save nearly one trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas for Qatar.  

 

The operation of these facilities reduces the greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, and helps in maintaining a clean environment for the residents of Qatar, the release adds.  

 

Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, the managing director of Qatar Petroleum and chairman of the Board of Directors of Qatargas highlighted the significance of the JBOG project as not only one of the largest environmental investments but also the largest LNG Boil-off Recovery project in the world. 

 

He said: “The development of the Jetty Boil-off Gas Recovery project was initiated by Qatar Petroleum nearly a decade ago.  JBOG is set to become a landmark project for Qatar, underlining Qatar’s commitment to balance industrial development with care for the environment.  This huge investment by Qatar Petroleum and its partners will reduce the carbon footprint of the 77 Mta of LNG production facilities to the minimum practically possible contributing to the environmental development pillar of the Qatar National Vision 2030.”  

 

Qatargas chief executive officer, Sheikh Khalid Bin Khalifa Al Thani expressed his delight at the safe start-up of the JBOG facilities, and said: “The completion and operation of the JBOG project is a great achievement by the JBOG project management team, its contractors and Qatargas Operating Company Limited.  The excellent result achieved by everyone associated with this environmental project is a matter of great pride for Qatar and its people.”

 

The engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract for the project was awarded to Fluor in the US in February 2010.  The detailed design and procurement services were carried out at Fluor’s offices in Sugar Land, Texas, and New Delhi, India.  The main equipment on the project was supplied by General Electric, Emerson and ABB.

 

The construction of the project started in Ras Laffan City in mid-2011, with the bulk of the site work executed by some of the leading construction contractors in Qatar, ie, Ammico, STFA, Qcon, Qatar Kentz and Medgulf.  The work site saw a peak of around 3,000 people working hard to finish the project.

 

Qatargas chief operating officer Engineering and Ventures, Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdulla Al Thani thanked the people who made this project a reality, and was especially happy about the safety record of the project.  Sheikh Khalid said: “Qatargas prides itself on its high safety standards.  It is a matter of immense satisfaction for us that the JBOG project team completed the project with zero Lost Time Incident (LTI).  Considering that the project spent three years in construction and spent over 22 million man-hours, the zero LTI is a fantastic record.  I would also like to congratulate the JBOG project team, Qatargas Operations Development Department and all the relevant contractors for producing a facility which has started up safely and smoothly”.

 

The project design is based on the collection of the LNG boil-off gas from the LNG carriers and the transfer of this gas to a Central Compression Area via large diameter stainless steel pipelines.  At the Central Compression Area, the gas is compressed and sent to the LNG trains for use as fuel gas or for conversion into LNG.  

 

A significant part of the JBOG project was devoted to upgrading around 85 LNG carrier ships to make them ready for recovering the boil-off gas.  Ships ranging from Qmax, Qflex, conventional Membrane and Moss type were covered successfully.  This complicated work is largely complete, resulting in the achievement of the gas recovery target of 90 per cent.

 

Bashir Mirza, the JBOG project manager, said: “The journey for JBOG started in 2007 under the sponsorship of Qatar Petroleum.  The JBOG team and its contractors are proud to have delivered this project safely and successfully while meeting the expectations of Qatar Petroleum and other project owners.  Not only have we completed the project safely and under budget, but it has high quality standards, demonstrated by the quick and reliable start-up and operations.  The plant is operating per its design, and will make a huge contribution to keeping the Qatar atmosphere clear of harmful emissions”.

 

JBOG received a silver safety award from Qatar Petroleum in 2013, which recognised the outstanding efforts of the project to keep its workers safe from injury. The project owned its workers’ camp in Ras Laffan City, which was termed one of the best in Qatar by the workers in terms of living quarters, food, recreational facilities, hygiene and safety.

 

The environmental credentials of the JBOG project were on display during the COP 18 Environmental Conference in Doha in 2012.  A working model of the project was put on display at the conference exhibition, giving hundreds of visitors a glimpse of what Qatar is doing to reduce emissions.

 

The start-up of the JBOG project has demonstrated that Qatar is not only the largest producer of cleaner energy for the world, in the form of LNG, but has also invested heavily into ensuring that its LNG production facilities are one of the “greenest” in the world. --Trade Arabia News Service