LNG giant QatarEnergy plans to reduce the carbon intensity of Qatar’s LNG facilities by 35 percent as part of its updated sustainability strategy.
QatarEnergy said in a statement on Monday its updated sustainability strategy outlines multiple initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases emissions.
This includes flagship projects such as the further deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to capture over 11 million tons per annum of CO2 in Qatar by 2035, it said.
Also, these projects would further reduce the carbon intensity of Qatar’s LNG facilities by 35 percent, and of its upstream facilities by at least 25 percent, compared to previous targets of 25 percent and 15 percent, respectively, according to the state-owned firm.
This would bolster Qatar’s commitment to “responsibly supply cleaner LNG at scale in support of the energy transition.”
Furthermore, QatarEnergy said it would continue pursuing efforts to advance the midterm targets of increasing solar capacity to over 5 GW and eliminating routine flaring and limiting fugitive methane emissions along the gas value chain.
“Cleaner LNG” and hydrogen
“In QatarEnergy, we believe we have a significant role to play to mitigate climate change,” Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said.
He said this would be achieved by implementing the company’s sustainability strategy, through applying “effective measures” to curb emissions.
These include producing “cleaner LNG using the latest proven emissions reduction technologies, expanding renewables capacity, and compensating for residual emissions through CCS and nature-based solutions, where appropriate,” Al-Kaabi said.
“As the world’s largest LNG-producing company, in a solar-resource-rich region, our sustainability strategy builds on these strengths and illustrates our efforts in exploring, with our global partners, a variety of relevant low-carbon energy solutions, including hydrogen, both in Qatar and internationally, to learn, replicate and scale-up promising solutions,” Al-Kaabi said.
QatarEnergy has recently signed separate agreements with Shell and Korea’s Hydrogen Convergence Alliance (H2Korea) for cooperation in the field of hydrogen energy both in Qatar and internationally.
These efforts would focus on sectors such as industry and transportation, where hydrogen could offer a “credible and material decarbonization route,” the firm said.
Giant LNG expansion
QatarEnergy announced a final investment decision on its $28.75 billion North Field East project in February last year.
Under the project, QatarEnergy will build four mega trains with a capacity of 8 million tonnes per year in the Ras Laffan complex.
This first phase of the expansion project will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 to 110 mtpa while the second phase will further boost capacity to total 126 mtpa.
QatarEnergy expects first LNG from the expansion projects in 2025.
The company’s unit Qatargas already operates in total fourteen LNG trains at Ras Laffan.