Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLC) has been hailed for its decade-long contribution to Qatar’s energy vision.

At the recent celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary held at the RLC headquarters, Qatar’s Deputy Premier and Energy and Industry Minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah paid tribute to the continuing realisation of Qatar’s energy vision.
In February 1997, the foundation stone for RLC was laid by the Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and one of the fastest growing world-scale industrial cities emerged over the past decade.
RLC is also considered to be the world’s leading supplier of clean energy.
The key objective of RLC is to achieve economies of scale and synergy between the gas and petrochemical industries, utilising non-associated gas without compromising the environment.
Within a decade, RLC has been established as a world leader in the supply of natural gas and its derivatives and an investment centre of choice for international oil companies and service providers.
“Within 10 years, Ras Laffan has become the largest city for the gas industry in the world housing gas-to-liquids (GTL) as well as number of projects including petrochemicals, power generation and water desalination,” said Al Attiyah.
The vast North Field gas reserves, some 80 km offshore from Ras Laffan, were discovered in 1971 making them the single largest non-associated gasfield in the world.
Exploration activities began in 1991 when Qatar Petroleum developed its first project and the utilisation of more than 900 trillion cu feet of proven reserves equating to 20 per cent of the world’s total gas reserves has kept apace.
The scale of investment and the pace of development of the North Field are making Qatar a leader in world energy supplies with RLC at the forefront of a new age of clean energy.
The Government of Qatar commissioned the construction of dedicated port facilities for LNG carriers, LPG carriers, tankers, dry cargo vessels and supply vessels.
Al Attiyah expected the Ras Laffan Port would receive some 4,500 tankers annually to transport the GTL and the other gas-related products.
At the anniversary celebrations, Misnad Al Misnad, Director of RLC, emphasised the global strategy for the industrial city and Qatar’s increasing strength as an energy export hub for the Far East, and eventually Europe and North America.
Misnad has been involved with the RLC for more then a decade. During his speech, Misnad looked back on the hectic pace of development, paying tribute to the team work of a multinational workforce building one of world’s energy capitals with absolute commitment to the protection of the environment and local eco systems.
According to Al Attiyah, RLC is now supplying 31 million tonnes per year of LNG along with condensed sulphur and expects to record 77 million tonnes per year by 2010.
RLC is also on track for building the largest sea cooling facility in the world which would produce 40 million gallons per day.