Oman LNG's train 1 back to full capacity after outages, debottlenecking ongoing: CEO

Oman LNG's train 1 is back to full capacity after outages and the company is currently undertaking debottlenecking to increase total capacity beyond last year's production of 8.8 million mt/year, its CEO said on Sept. 22.

"The plant (LNG train 1) is running. It's almost a week now (since it restarted)," Hamed al-Naamany told reporters on sidelines of Gastech conference in Dubai.

"Normally plants have outages, and they get fixed and they come back. Yes. We're at full capacity."

The company is currently undertaking debottlenecking to boost the company's production capacity.

"This year will be much more than that (of last year's 8.8 million mt/year)," Naamany said, declining to give the level they will reach in 2021. "It's [debottlenecking] definitely on plan. Next year [we] will be at full capacity."

Oman LNG has three trains with a total nameplate capacity of 10.4 million mt/year, according to its website.

Carbon neutral LNG

Oman LNG has been undergoing debottlenecking activities in the past two years to raise the capacity of its current facilities. Omani LNG exports were essentially at full capacity 2018-2020, when they averaged at about 12 Bcm/year, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. However, the debottlenecking will allow Omani LNG exports to expand by about 2 Bcm/year. Platts Analytics expects Omani LNG exports at around 14 Bcm/year over the coming five years.

Oman LNG is also looking to sell more carbon neutral cargoes after signing an agreement with Shell this year to deliver the sultanate's first carbon neutral LNG cargo.

"Carbon credits and green cargoes are definitely great for all of us. We're working on it with our partners," Naamany said.

Oman LNG has also started talks to renew the Oman LNG concession, which is due to expire in 2025.

The Omani government is the biggest shareholder in Oman LNG at 51%, followed by Shell with a 30% stake, Total with 5.54% and Korea LNG with 5%. Other shareholders include Mitsubishi Corporation, Partex and Mitsui & Co.

"We are in discussions among [our] partners. We have started gradually, but it takes time," he said.