Samsung unit to build carbon capture megaproject in Qatar

The construction and trading arm of South Korean electronics giant Samsung has won a contract to build a carbon capture and storage project that aims to reduce emissions at state-owned QatarEnergy’s existing liquefied natural gas production sites in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar.

The project awarded to Samsung C&T is expected to capture and store up to 4.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. It forms part of QatarEnergy’s wider plan to capture more than 11 mtpa of CO2 from its LNG expansion projects by 2035. QatarEnergy is the world’s largest LNG company today.

Samsung C&T will provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for a new sequestration facility that will compress CO2 extracted from the natural gas feed and inject it into a saline aquifer beneath Ras Laffan. The project includes electric-driven compressors, dehydration and pipeline inspection gauge-launcher systems, as well as an export pipeline of about 18km, plus multiple injection wells.

While the full capture method has not been publicly specified, project literature for the North Field East development indicates that QatarEnergy’s CCS systems are designed to extract CO2 directly from natural gas streams before liquefaction, using compression and dehydration prior to geological storage.