Qatar Awards Baker Hughes LNG Expansion Deal

State Qatar Petroleum has awarded Baker Hughes (BH) a contract for the Qatar North Field East (NFE) expansion plan, the US engineering firm said September 29. The order is for the main refrigerant compressors: 12 gas turbines and 24 centrifugal compressors and will help bring the country's output from 77mn metric tons/year to 110mn mt/yr.

Not disclosing the value of the order, BH said it was "among the largest LNG deals for Baker Hughes in the past five years," for both capacity and the equipment awarded. 

Qatargas already operates six LNG "mega trains" driven by Frame 9E gas turbine refrigerant compressors provided by Baker Hughes. 

BH CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said: "This milestone deal illustrates the continued strength of Baker Hughes' partnership with Qatar Petroleum, which began 25 years ago upon our delivery of the first LNG train in Qatar." He said gas would be a key transition fuel, and likely a destination fuel for a lower carbon future. "Building on our track record of delivering proven, reliable and highly efficient LNG technology, we remain committed to taking energy forward in Qatar for more years to come," he said.

With one eye on the environmental, social and governance metrics in the oil and gas industry, BH said the NFE project will feature the latest compression technology to reduce CO2 output by 60,000 mt/train/yr, with no reduction in LNG production, representing a 5% cut versus previous technologies. The compression trains will also be produced using the latest manufacturing techniques, cutting CO2 emissions during production by up to 10%. Packaging, manufacturing and testing of the gas turbine/compressor trains will take place in BH's facilities in Italy, a country that is testing hydrogen  in industrial applications.

First gas from the NFE expansion is expected by the end of 2025. The second phase, called the North Field South project (NFS), will further increase Qatar's LNG production capacity from 110mn mt/yr to 126mn mt/yr.