Business

Qatar closer to flaring cuts at LNG facility

Qatar moves a step closer to ending gas flaring at the world's biggest LNG production complex.

Tamsin Carlisle

February 18, 2011

Qatar has moved a step closer to implementing a landmark project to reduce carbon emissions at the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) production complex.
GE Oil & Gas, the oil and gas equipment and services unit of General Electric, said this week it had been chosen to supply electric compressors to the project to capture and use natural gas that evaporates during the loading of tankers at Qatar's main industrial port, from which more than 20 per cent of global LNG supplies are exported. Previously, the gas was burnt as waste because of a lack of infrastructure to collect it at the tanker berths.
"In the first large-scale application of its type, GE Oil & Gas advanced compressor technology is minimising LNG boil-off gas flaring," GE said. "Gas that was previously boiled off and flared during the loading of LNG carriers in Ras Laffan Port will now be collected from the LNG carriers and transferred to a central compression area via large diameter stainless steel pipelines."
After compression, the collected gas will be sent ashore to the 14 large LNG production units at Ras Laffan Industrial City. Starting in 2014, the recovered gas will be used to fuel the giant refrigeration plants that liquefy the gas for export.
"Given the scale and complexity of the LNG venture, this is a milestone boil-off gas recovery project that will enable minimisation of gas flaring to the fullest extent possible, helping conserve Qatar's natural resources," GE said. Qatar, the world's leading LNG exporter, announced the US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) gas recovery project two years ago, characterising it as a major environmental initiative that would significantly reduce the emirate's carbon dioxide emissions while conserving fossil fuel.
The project is expected to recover the equivalent of 600,000 tonnes of LNG a year, enough to power 40,000 homes. But last March, after delays in awarding the main contract, Qatargas said it was reviewing the project.
Qatargas awarded the contract for engineering, procurement and construction work to the US engineering company Fluor last April. It announced the financial go-ahead for the project in September.
Last December, Qatar celebrated meeting a target of expanding its annual LNG production capacity to 77 million tonnes from 30 million tonnes just two years earlier.
 
tcarlisle@thenational.ae

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

if you go
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

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