Chiyoda, Technip win contract for Qatar gas plants

Japanese firm Chiyoda said on Tuesday it had won a US$4 billion deal jointly with France's Technip to build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Qatar, calling it one of the biggest projects of its kind.

Each of the two plants would be capable of producing 7.8 million tonnes of LNG a year by the end of the decade, with North America a primary market for the gas, the Yokohama-based firm said in a statement.

"The value of the contract is around US$4 billion," said the statement, calling the plants "two of the world's largest."

The investment was earlier reported by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, which said that the plants will use natural gas produced at Qatar's North Field and are expected to come onstream by 2009.

Chiyoda Technip will handle all operations, ranging from design to procurement of materials and construction, with the share by the Japanese company estimated at about ¥300 billion (US$2.6 billion), the paper said.

One was ordered by a joint venture between state-run Qatar Petroleum and ConocoPhilips of the US, and the other by a venture between Qatar Petroleum and Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, it said.