It has been over a decade since something remarkable happened in a deserted piece of land in the far northern part of State of Qatar.

This was the story that changed the fortune of the entire nation and reaped rich dividend for its people. Today Qatar has been propelled to the position of being the world’s leading supplier of clean energy.
Qatar Petroleum scripted one of its biggest success stories in Ras Laffan, which is one of the fastest growing industrial cities on the globe, exporting energy products to Japan and eventually to Europe and America.
The discovery of Qatar’s huge North Field gas reserves in 1971, highlighted the country’s strength  in the world energy arena and Ras Laffan Industrial City became the torch bearer to the beginning of a new age of clean energy.
Since its inception in 1997, Ras Laffan Industrial City proudly maintained its position as a leader in the energy industry, supplying 31 million tonnes per year of LNG worldwide by 2007 along with condensate sulphur, and hopes to record 77 million tonnes per year by the year 2010.
Ras Laffan Industrial City located on a northeastern coast of Qatar covers an area of approximately 248 sq km and is an ideal location for investment for energy giants and future investors.
Qatargas and RasGas own and operate two of the world’s leading industries of LNG production and export.
The state expansion projects have positioned them to be one of the principal world’s supplier of LNG. In addition to the entry of LNG productions, the RLC Master Plan visualises the future growth of the city and its industries.
Oryx GTL, the first gas-to-liquids plant established in the region, produces and exports 34,000 bpd of and diesel. It could produce in future base oil for lubricants.
In addition to these huge projects, the Pearl GTL project will convert 106 million cubic feet per day into 14,0000 bpd of diesel, naphtha, paraffin and base oil for lubricants.
In addition to these huge projects allowing to export liquid hydrocarbon, gas pipeline projects are on their way.
The Dolphin Energy project will provide the UAE and Oman with two billion cubic feet of natural gas per day with the potential expansion of and additional one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
The Al Khaleej Project will develop reserves in the North Field to supply 750 million cubic feet of lean gas to Oryx GTL and Ras Laffan Power Company. It will be extended through Al Khaleej Gas Project phase II with an additional capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of lean gas to be used on the domestic market. In the future, the Barzan Project should allow the treatment of more than 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of lean gas also dedicated to the domestic market.
The helium plant will produce 660 million cubic feet per year and by 2010, one billion cubic feet per year.
Other plants such as the Laffan Condensate Refinery and Ras Laffan Olefins Cracker are under construction. Additional plants such as aromatics, polyethylene, ammonia, urea and ethanol are considered to be established in Ras Laffan.
To cater to the efficient transportation of the LNG and liquid product export, Ras Laffan Industrial City built the Ras Laffan Port.
The Ras Lafan Port accommodates five LNG berths and six liquid berths to meet the end-users’ requirements.
In addition, a major expansion of the Ras Laffan Port will triple the capacity of the existing harbour to meet the requirements of LNG, GTL and petrochemical projects planned over the next 20 years.
The expansion will include LNG and liquid berths.
With a dry dock facility container terminal for the export of petrochemical products, new dry cargo berths, the overall capacity of the port will be more than  25 million tonnes of LNG per year.
It will be the largest hydrocarbon exporting facility in the world.
The sea water cooling network of Ras Laffan is one of the cities’ indigenous projects operating on economies of scale and facilitates the delivery of cooling water to a wide spectrum of cities’ industries.
On completion of phase II, the network will have an ultimate distributing capacity of more than one million cubic metre per hour making it the largest sea water cooling facility in the world.
The Ras Laffan Power Company generates 750MW of electricity for the city’s industries and Qatar’s national grid. The desalination plant provides 40 million gallons of potable water per day.
The Qatar power plant will see a capacity of 1,020MW of electricity and an added 60 million gallons of potable water per day to meet future necessities.
In addition, a third power plant with a capacity of 2,600 MW and 55 million gallons of potable water per day is being planned to become operational by 2010.
The waste management facility in Ras Laffan allows for the disposal of all generated industrial wastes while minimising any risk of the environment.
The ever growing workforce of Ras Laffan is accommodated within the city’s boundaries with an access to entertainment facilities, banks and airlines offices as well as car rentals at the commercial complex and modern medical facilities at the Ras Laffan Medical Centre.
Ras Laffan Industrial City’s mandate is to provide all essential services to any industrial initiatives.
In order to support the development of the main industry, a support services and support industries area is developed on the west of Ras Laffan City. This area will also accommodate RLC multipurpose complex including RLC offices, QP training centres and Ras Laffan Emergency and Safety College.
Ras Laffan Industrial City offers world class 24 hour emergency fire, safety and security services to the end-users in compliance with international codes and industry best practices.
It has developed and implemented environmental monitoring and conservation programmes to ensure maximum protection of flora and fauna and wildlife.  The environmental team at Ras Laffan analyses and monitors coastal waters, analyses all waste for classification, monitors air and ground water quality as well as noise levels generated by various industries.
The story of Ras Laffan industrial city is unique in the sense that they have shown the world, what resources, human endurance and hard word put together under a truly wise leadership can achieve.
Ras Laffan Industrial City is an investor’s gold mine with limitless opportunities. Those at Ras Laffan call it Ras Laffantastic.