Qatargas

Qatargas is the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) company. It annually produces and supplies the globe with 42 million metric tons of LNG from across its four ventures (Qatargas 1, Qatargas 2, Qatargas 3, and Qatargas 4). It is headquartered in Doha, Qatar, and maintains its upstream assets in Ras Laffan, Qatar. Natural gas is supplied to Qatargas's LNG trains from Qatar's massive North Field, by far the world's largest non-associated gas field. Together with RasGas, it reached a record LNG production of 77 million tones per annum in December 2010.HistoryThe Qatargas company was established in 1984. The company was originally formed to operate three LNG trains with a design capacity of two million tonnes per annum (mtpa) each (Qatargas 1). The first shipment of LNG was delivered to Japan in 1996. In July 2005, Qatargas Operating Company Limited was formed for the purpose of constructions of Qatargas 2, Qatargas 3, Qatargas 4, Laffan Refinery and other assets on behalf of the shareholders. On 6 April 2009, the Qatargas 2 project was officially inaugurated. In November 2010 and January 2011, respectively, qatargas 3 and 4 started production.OperationsThe shareholders of the Qatargas 1 are Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Total, Mitsui and Marubeni. It owns three LNG trains. In 2008, it produced 10.09 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas. The projected production for the end of 2012 is 42 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).