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QatarGas to Start LNG Train 5 in Two to Three Weeks (Update1)

By Ayesha Daya and Robert Tuttle

June 29 (Bloomberg) — Qatar, the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, will start up a fifth LNG production line in two to three weeks, the chief executive officer of QatarGas said.

Train 5 of QatarGas, a venture between state-owned Qatar Petroleum, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total SA, will reach full capacity before the year-end, Faisal al-Suwaidi said in Doha today. QatarGas train 4, which started in March, is currently producing almost at full capacity.

“The projects will be in place by 2010 to produce 77 million tons a year of LNG,” Suwaidi said. “Physically, we will be producing the full amount by the end of 2011.”

Qatar today signed an agreement to supply 1 million tons of LNG to Poland a year from 2014. Qatar, holder of the biggest gas reserves in the world after Russia and Iran, plans to produce 60 million tons of the fuel by the end of this year, Oil Minister Abdullah bin-Hamad Al-Attiyah told reporters in Doha today.

LNG is gas that’s been cooled and condensed to liquid form to allow its transportation by ship.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ayesha Daya in Doha via Dubai onadaya1@bloomberg.netRobert Tuttle in Doha at rtuttle@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 29, 2009 07:23 EDT