Samsung Engineering has announced that Qatargas has today signed an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with Samsung Engineering for a Diesel Hydrotreater (DHT) unit that will further enhance production, by 54,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD) of ultra low sulphur diesel fuel, at the Qatargas-operated Laffan Refinery.
The Laffan Refinery, which started production in September 2009, is one of the largest condensate refineries in the world and the first of its kind in Qatar.
The DHT Unit, which is aiming to produce diesel with less than ten parts per million (ppm) sulphur content to strict European specifications, will be built and integrated into the existing Laffan Refinery by 2014.
The DHT will process straight run Light Gas Oil (LGO) feedstock from the existing Laffan Refinery 1 (LR1) and the second planned Refinery (LR2), the EPC contract for which is due to be awarded this year after the completion of the FEED stage awarded to Technip.
The DHT Unit has a processing capacity of 54,000 BPSD. Until the second Refinery is operational the DHT will run at 50 per cent of its designed capacity. Occasionally, when the existing kerosene hydrotreater is shut down either for maintenance or catalyst replacement, the DHT Unit will also be able to treat the straight-run LGO from the kerosene condensate fractionation unit. The DHT Unit will be installed inside the plot of LR1, located in Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC) in Qatar.
The DHT project is being developed by Laffan Refinery Company, a venture operated by Qatargas. Shareholders in the initiative include Qatar Petroleum (84%), Total (10%), Idemitsu (2%), Cosmo (2%), Mitsui (1%) and Marubeni (1%).
His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman of the Qatargas and Laffan Refinery Boards of Directors, attended the contract signing ceremony, along with Mr. Park Ki-Seok, President and Chief Executive Officer of Samsung Engineering, and Khalid Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chief Executive Officer of Qatargas and Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Laffan Refinery Company.
The Laffan Refinery is Qatar’s first condensate refinery, starting production in September 2009. Currently, the refinery has a processing capacity of 146,000 bpsd and utilizes the field condensate produced from the Qatargas and RasGas facilities. It consists of process units including utility systems, distillation units, naphtha and kerosene hydrotreaters, a hydrogen unit and a saturated gas plant producing naphtha, kerojet, gasoil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The refinery’s production capacity includes 62,000 bpsd of naphtha, 52,000 bpsd of kerojet, 24,000 bpsd of gasoil, and 8,000 bpsd of LPG.
