Mobil ships first RasGas LNG load to Korea

Mobil Corporation announced today that RasGas has loaded its first cargo of LNG to be shipped from Qatar to KOGAS. The cargo, loaded onto a Korean-owned and-operated LNG carrier, marks the commencement of deliveries under a 25-year sales and purchase agreement between RasGas and KOGAS.

RasGas is a joint venture established in 1993 by QGPC and an affiliate of Mobil Corporation. The other RasGas partners are Itochu Corporation and Nissho Iwai Corporation.

"RasGas has achieved a major milestone with the on-schedule loading of the first of over 1,900 LNG cargoes that will be shipped to Korea from Qatar," said Ron Billings, president of Mobil Global Gas and Power. "We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship."
Initial deliveries to KOGAS are being sourced from the first RasGas LNG train, which streamed in May 1999. The second train is now under construction and is on schedule for an expected start up in the first half of 2000. Each train will have an annual capacity of about 3 mm metric tons of LNG. Current ownership interest in the first two trains is 66.5 % for QGPC, 26.5 % for Mobil and 7 % for Itochu and Nissho Iwai.
Contract volumes from RasGas to KOGAS are projected to ramp up from 600,000 metric tons in 1999 to 4.8 mm tpy from 2002 forward. After delivery to Korea, the RasGas LNG will undergo regasification and then be used as a clean fuel for a variety of industrial and commercial applications in Korea.

Complementing the contract with KOGAS, earlier this month RasGas signed a sales and purchase agreement with Petronet to supply 7.5 mm tpy of LNG to India over a 25-year period. Initial deliveries of RasGas LNG to Petronet are targeted to begin in July 2003, with volumes projected to climb to 2.5 mm tpy by 2004 and to reach the 7.5 mm tpy target by 2006.
With an estimated 380 tcf of proven gas reserves, Qatar's huge North Field has substantial potential to support additional LNG sales by RasGas.