Qatar’s LR2 expansion to come on stream in Q4 2016

Interview article by Nurluqman Suratman

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Qatar’s 146,000 bbl/day Laffan Refinery 2 (LR2) project is on track to come on stream in the fourth quarter of 2016, with naphtha output from the new facility expected to enter into the market by 2017, according to a Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Company Ltd (Tasweeq) official.

“The new LR2 condensate splitter will come on line in the fourth quarter of 2016,” Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, marketing director of condensates for Tasweeq, told ICIS on the sidelines of the 7th Downstream & Petrochemical Asia conference in Singapore.

The two-day event ends on 30 October.

LR2 will double the Ras Laffan overall processing capacity to 292,000 bbl/day, according to the refinery’s operator Qatargas.

To be constructed adjacent to the existing refinery, LR2 will have a daily production capacity of 60,000 barrels of naphtha, 53,000 barrels of jet fuel, 24,000 barrels of gasoil and 9,000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The Laffan Refinery 1 (LR1) currently produces 61,000 bbl/day of naphtha, 52,000 bbl/day of jet fuel, 24,000 bbl/day of gasoil and 9,000 bbl/day of liquid petroleum gas (LPG).

The shareholders of the Laffan Refinery are Qatar Petroleum (51%), ExxonMobil (10%), Total (10%), Idemitsu (10%), Cosmo (10%), Mitsui (4.5%) and Marubeni (4.5%).

About 50% of the output from the new facility will be used for the new gasoline and aromatics project at the site that will start up in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to Al Sulaiti.

Al Sulaiti said that LR2 will use deodorised field condensate (DFC) as feedstock, which will reduce the amount of DFC available for exports from Qatar.

However, Qatar will still have about 350,000 bbl/day of DFC condensates available for exports once the new LR2 facility comes into operation, he said.

The bulk of exports from LR2 will head towards Asia as well as the Middle East, according to Al Sulaiti.

Asia will see a surge in new refinery additions by 2020, with almost 20 proposed projects to add around 2.7m bbl/day of new capacities, he added.