Through a joint company called Marsa Liquefied Natural Gas (Marsa), TotalEnergies and OQ Alternative Energy (OQ) have launched a new project that features a liquefaction plant with a capacity of 1 Mt/y located in the port of Sohar.
The project includes 150m cubic feet of natural gas per day, coming from the venture’s 33.19% stake in the Mabrouk North-East field on onshore Block 10, which will provide feedstock for the plant.
Located in Oman, the Marsa LNG project will be 100% electrically driven and supplied with solar power from a dedicated 300 MWp (megawatt peak) PV solar plant to be built on-site.
This will position the site as one of the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity LNG plants in the world, according to TotalEnergies.
The plant will have a GHG intensity below 3kg CO2e/boe (CO2 equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent), compared with an average emissions intensity of LNG plants of around 35 kg CO2e/boe.
Expected to start by first quarter 2028, the facility could serve as the first LNG bunkering hub in the Middle East.
Compared to conventional marine fuel, LNG can cut GHG emissions by up to 23%, nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 85%, sulphur emissions by 99% and fine particle emissions by 99%.
However, LNG is primarily made up of methane, a GHG 80 times more potent than CO2 in the short term and 30 times worse in the long term.
Methane leaks at various stages of LNG production and supply, including directly from ship funnels, accelerating climate warming significantly.
©TotalEnergies
“This very innovative project illustrates our pioneer spirit and showcases the relevance of our integrated multi-energy strategy, with the ambition of being a responsible player in the energy transition,” said Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies.
During Pouyanne’s visit to Muscat on April 21st, TotalEnergies also signed a sale and purchase agreement with Oman LNG to offtake 800,000 tonnes of LNG for ten years from 2025.
Oman LNG signed an agreement with Turkey’s state gas grid operator Botas last week to supply about 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG for ten years from 2025, in addition to a ten-year deal with Shell to supply 1.6 mtpa from 2025.
“By paving the way for the next generation of very low emissions LNG plants, Marsa LNG is contributing to making gas a long-term transition strategy,” he added.
The Middle East has seen major disruptions in gas supply in recent times. Following a series of Houthi attacks in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea which caused significant rerouting of LNG trade, an attack from Israel on Iran raised fears regional oil supplies could be disrupted.
Around 20% of the global LNG trade – equating to around 80m metric tonnes – passes through the Strait of Hormuz each year.
To avoid conflict zones, shipowners have been forced to take the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, which adds 20 days or more to transit times, significantly hiking costs.
