RasGas RL(3) Common Offplot Projects

Fluor provided engineering, procurement and construction management, as well as commissioning and start-up support, for the RL(3) Common Offplot Projects in Qatar. The $1.5 billion series of fast-track projects provided common product rundown, storage and loading facilities for a large number of on-plot facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City, including world-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains, gas sales and gas-to-liquid plants.

The facilities comprised the following units: common condensate storage and loading, common liquefied petroleum gas storage and loading, common lean LNG modifications, corridor piping for rundown, product loading and utilities, and common HV power distribution.

The LNG and related products processed at the complex will be exported to meet the world’s growing energy demand.

Client's Challenge

RasGas is a legal entity owned by Qatar Petroleum (70 percent) and ExxonMobil (30 percent). RasGas is a major player in the Qatar LNG development business, and in this project acted as an agent for multiple project owner organizations. The facilities were installed on behalf of 10 owners and required more than 200 commercial agreements.

The Common Offplot Projects were located approximately 50 miles north of Doha inside the boundaries of the Ras Laffan Industrial City, a large industrial complex primarily focused on LNG export facilities. The location had several challenges that were addressed by the Fluor team.

Many team members commuted daily from Doha to the site. This journey was regarded as the single biggest risk to project personnel due to potential traffic accidents. Defensive driver training and additional situational awareness training was provided to all drivers.

Due to the remote location and security considerations imposed by the State of Qatar, the project had a dedicated security team liaising with Fluor regional security, embassies and other governmental agencies to ensure the safety of all employees and facilities.

Transporting materials, equipment and people to the State of Qatar provided many logistical challenges. Ocean transport to the Middle East region suffered major capacity constraints throughout most of the project, which made it difficult to secure appropriate and timely vessel capacity. The project team mitigated logistics issues by using ports in Bahrain and Dubai, although this added the additional challenge of ground transportation via Saudi Arabia.

The site climate was inhospitable during the summer with extremely high humidity and temperatures in excess of 50 degrees Celsius (130 degrees Fahrenheit).

Fluor's Solution

This was the first project the Fluor Energy & Chemicals Group executed in the state of Qatar. The project was a new entry to the local market, with no Fluor infrastructure, limited local knowledge, very little recognition of the Fluor brand and a daunting schedule.

Fluor began this project at a time of significant commercial and industrial development in Qatar, resulting in a shortage of office space and living quarters. Fluor mobilized an experienced staff from the New Delhi, India office to perform engineering, and the Fluor team in Qatar set up offices at the construction site.

To address a construction skills deficit, the project team conducted scaffold building training, welder training and training in areas such as grinding, piping layout/measurement, cable tagging, as-built drawings, etc. Construction staff peaked at nearly 9,000 workers in 2008.

Significant value was created on the project as a result of integrating RasGas and Fluor personnel in the Environmental, Health, Safety & Security, Engineering, Turnover and Quality departments. Integration of the aforementioned departments was implemented to promote a “One Team” concept.

The project achieved world class safety performance with over 46 million work hours without a lost time incident.

Conclusion

The RL(3) Common Offplot Projects were completed in 2009, with all project schedules and cost objectives met.

The success of this project was important to Fluor as the company looked toward future opportunities in Qatar.