Marsa LNG, an LNG Production Plant with a Low-Carbon Design

04/26/2024

Green light for the Marsa LNG project in Oman! On April 21, 2024, TotalEnergies and OQ (Oman National Oil Company) announced the final investment decision for the Marsa LNG project, which will be capable of producing one million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year, mainly for the shipping sector.

In Oman, TotalEnergies is addressing the challenge of offering liquefied natural gas as a marine fuel. In 2021, TotalEnergies signed an agreement with the Sultanate of Oman to create the Marsa LNG joint venture (TotalEnergies 80% - OQ 20%), with the aim of producing natural gas from Block 10 and developing a low-carbon-intensity liquefaction plant in the port of Sohar, powered by renewable electricity, with a capacity of one million tons of LNG per year.

Cameron LNG liquefaction terminal in the state of Louisiana in the United States

A low-carbon plant design

Liquefaction involves cooling the gas to -160°C, which requires a considerable amount of energy. To reduce the Marsa LNG plant's carbon footprint, the gas combustion process will be replaced with electric motors. A solar power plant with a capacity of 300 megawatts-peak (MWp) will supply the equivalent of the plant's annual needs.

Over 200,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year will therefore be avoided over the project's lifetime compared to a gas-based plant design. The plant's carbon intensity will be less than 3 kilograms of carbon equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent, meaning that Marsa LNG will be the liquefied natural gas plant with the lowest carbon intensity in the world⁽¹⁾.

⁽¹⁾ The average emission intensity of LNG plants is around 35 kg CO2e/boe - this represents a reduction in emissions of more than 90%

Marsa LNG, the first marine LNG bunkering hub in the Middle East

When used as a marine fuel to replace fuel oil, LNG can reduce emissions of sulfur oxides and fine particle (99%), nitrogen oxides (up to 85%) and greenhouse gases (up to 23%). Ships are bunkered with LNG at bunkering hubs, which resemble large-scale service stations. The Marsa LNG site will bring together the LNG liquefaction plant and a jetty for accommodating bunkering vessels, as well as LNG tankers for exporting the remaining LNG.

TotalEnergies' Gas Vitality bunkering vessel, France

TotalEnergies and marine LNG

TotalEnergies is convinced that LNG has a major role to play in enabling the shipping sector to move forward with the energy transition. It reduces emissions from vessels and improves air quality for port cities and communities in coastal areas. To support the uptake of LNG as a marine fuel, the Company is investing in the LNG bunkering infrastructure. It currently charters three bunkering vessels, namely the Gas Agility in the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Gas Vitality in the port of Marseille-Fos in France, and the Brassavola in the port of Singapore.

And elsewhere in Oman...

TotalEnergies has been active in Oman since 1937, producing oil, natural gas and LNG. The Company is also involved in developing renewable energies in the country. In 2022, it joined forces with Veolia to start construction of a solar power plant to supply the Sharqiyah Desalination seawater desalination plant in the city of Sur. Boasting a 17 MWp capacity, the plant produces over 30 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable electricity a year, or more than a third of the desalination plant's daily consumption, enabling it to avoid close to 300,000 tons of CO₂ emissions.