(EnergyAsia, January 16 2012, Monday) — Qatargas said it has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to South Korea’s Samsung Engineering Ltd for a 54,000 b/d hydro-treater (DHT) unit to produce ultra low-sulphur diesel fuel at the Laffan refinery in Qatar.

The 350-million-rial unit will produce Euro 5-specification diesel containing less than 10 parts per million (ppm) sulphur when it starts up in the first quarter of 2014, said Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar’s Energy and Industry Minister who is also the chairman of Qatargas and the Laffan Refinery Boards of Directors. (US$1=3.65 rial).

The new unit will process straight run light gas oil (LGO) feedstock from the existing 146,000 b/d Laffan Refinery 1 (LR1) which started up in September 2009 and the second refinery (LR2) due for completion by the first quarter of 2016.

The completed Laffan refinery will have be able to process up to 292,000 b/d of condensate from the emirate’s two state-owned energy giants, Qatargas and RasGas.

Qatargas said that when the existing kerosene hydro-treater is shut down either for maintenance or catalyst replacement, the DHT unit can also be used to treat straight-run LGO feed from the kerosene condensate fractionation unit. The unit will be installed inside the LR1 plot in Ras Laffan Industrial City.

The DHT unit project is being developed by Laffan Refinery Company (LRC), which is operated by Qatargas on behalf of its shareholders, Qatar Petroleum (84%), Total (10%), Idemitsu (2%), Cosmo (2%), Mitsui (1%) and Marubeni (1%).

The EPC contract for the DHT unit was signed last week by Dr Saleh Al-Sada and Park Ki-Seok, Samsung Engineering Ltd’s President and CEO.

Among the guests at the signing ceremony were Khalid Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatargas CEO who is also vice chairman and CEO of Laffan Refinery Company, member of the Qatar Petroleum Board, senior officials of Qatargas and Samsung Engineering Ltd, and representatives of the refinery’s shareholders.

Dr Saleh Al-Sada, who is also Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry, said:

“This project forms part of Qatar’s National Vision, as laid down by His Highness the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, for securing efficient energy supplies for the country meeting the most stringent environmental specifications, Euro 5, and contributing towards clean global energy security. The surplus production will be exported, making it the latest addition to Qatar’s existing export portfolio in the energy sector. The planned start-up of this project is the first quarter of 2014 at a cost of around 350 million Qatari Rial.”

Mr Khalifa Al Thani said: “This is a very significant milestone for our refinery, which is already undergoing an ambitious expansion drive to double its capacity of 146,000 b/d. I’m particularly pleased about this collaboration with Samsung Engineering for the development of this diesel hydro-treater unit as it represents one of the many ways through which we continue to demonstrate our highest standard of environmental management.”

Commenting that this was Samsung Engineering’s first project in Qatar, Mr Park said: “It is a privilege to be awarded the Laffan Refinery DHT Unit project from Qatargas, the largest LNG producer in the world. We are excited to fortify this new partnership by delivering the project on time and safely.”