TOKYO -- Japanese engineering group Chiyoda has won an order to develop liquefied natural gas plants in Qatar, including facilities capable of capturing and storing carbon dioxide to reduce their environmental impact.
State-owned energy company Qatar Petroleum awarded the contract Monday local time to a consortium formed by Chiyoda and French peer Technip. The order is worth $13 billion, one of the largest figures a Japanese company has received for building LNG plants.
The plants, due for completion from 2025 to 2027, will become an export hub for Asia-bound LNG. The carbon capturing equipment installed in the facilities will reduce those emissions by more than 25%.
The gas liquefaction facilities will process output from the eastern part of Qatar's North Field natural gas project, the largest nonassociated gas field in the world. The contract covers plant design, procurement and construction.
Four processing "megatrains" -- or liquefaction plants -- will be constructed, each with the capacity to produce 8 million tons of LNG a year. The trains will be completed in phases starting in 2025. Once all four are put into operation, they will lift Qatar's yearly LNG production capacity to 110 million tons from 77 million currently.
Chiyoda has built oil and gas plants in Qatar since the 1970s. The company has been involved in constructing a total of 14 LNG trains. For 12 of the trains, Chiyoda won orders integrating design and procurement as well as construction.
Qatar aims to boost national LNG production capacity to 126 million tons by 2027. The country plans to build two more LNG trains. Chiyoda looks to win those plant orders as well.
