Qatargas 3 and Qatargas 4 LNG projects break ground and target growing gas markets in the U.S.

Combined, the projects are expected to generate approximately 2.8 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas, the majority of which is targeted for delivery to the United States.

The ceremony was held at Ras Laffan Industrial City and attended by dignitaries, visitors and guests from Qatar and abroad.

Both Qatargas 3 and Qatargas 4 have worked jointly to reach this important milestone in record pace and all the necessary resources to carry out the projects are now in place. In order to capture substantial synergies, the projects jointly are executing the development of the onshore and offshore assets to enable them to be operated as a single integrated venture.

It was only last December when both Qatargas 3 and Qatargas 4 announced their Final Investment Decisions and awarded the onshore Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract to the Chiyoda Corporation and Technip France Joint Venture (CTJV). The EPC contract with CTJV covers the engineering, procurement, and construction of onshore facilities for two large-scale LNG trains, each with a nameplate capacity of 7.8 million tonnes-per-annum. The total price of this contract is valued around US$ 4 billion.

Qatargas 3 has signed all definitive agreements and successfully completed financing. The project has received commitments for more than $2.8 billion from 26 commercial banks, the Export Import Bank of the United States (U.S. Exim) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Commercial agreements and financing for Qatargas 4 are advancing rapidly. Qatargas 4, which has a similar debt requirement to Qatargas 3, will be the next large Qatari project to engage the international financial community and is already attracting a significant amount of interest from potential lenders.

Qatargas 3 is an integrated project, jointly owned by Qatar Petroleum (68.5%), ConocoPhillips (30%) and Mitsui (1.5%). Qatargas 4 will be implemented through a joint venture between QP (70%) and Shell (30%). Each project comprises upstream gas production facilities to produce approximately 1.4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas, including an average of approximately 70,000 bbl/d of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and condensate combined from Qatar's North Field over the 25-year life of the project. The projects will each include a 7.8 million tonnes-per-annum LNG train. The first LNG cargos from Qatargas 3 are expected to be delivered in 2009. First LNG cargos from Qatargas 4 are scheduled for around the end of the decade.

Access to growing U.S. natural gas markets is the key element in both the Qatargas 3 and Qatargas 4 LNG marketing strategies The sponsors of Qatargas 3 and Qatargas 4 have put strong emphasis on the development of infrastructure and capacity to bring LNG to these markets and both projects are now positioned to provide them with a substantial, reliable and stable supply of product.

Qatargas 4 volumes are intended to flow into natural gas markets in the eastern U.S. For this purpose, Shell, as a sponsor of Qatargas 4, has entered into agreements with Southern LNG Inc. and Elba Express Pipeline Company LLC to acquire additional capacity at the Elba Island LNG import terminal as well as in a new natural gas pipeline. Both projects will be filed with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for approval in the third quarter of 2006.

In December, Qatargas 3 executed a sales and purchase agreement with ConocoPhillips for the full train output which will be marketed primarily in the U.S. ConocoPhillips is one of the leading marketers of natural gas in the U.S. and following its acquisition of Burlington Resources, it will become the largest natural gas producer in North America.

Qatar's Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy & Industry His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, added "On this occasion I am very proud to say that Qatar will deliver on its promise to provide energy to our costumers. This would not have been realized without the partnership with major oil and gas companies in the world such as ConocoPhillips and Shell."

Qatargas CEO and Vice-Chairman Faisal M. Al Suwaidi pointed out

"I would like to stress that Qatargas is a very unique company from its market diversity and partnership with our shareholders. Qatargas is supplying to Asia and will reach Europe by end of 2007 and the North American market by end of 2008. Therefore our marketing will cover every corner of the world and in turn we will realize our vision to be the world's leading supplier of LNG by the end of the decade."

"This project is an important addition to ConocoPhillips' growing LNG portfolio," said Sig Cornelius, ConocoPhillips President Global Gas. "We are pleased to have an important role in helping Qatar reach its objective to become the largest LNG supplier in the world by the end of the decade."

Adding her comments, Linda Cook, Shell Executive Director of Gas and Power, said "Today's event is a tribute to effective partnership and bold commitment. We are very excited to see the Qatargas 4 project progress rapidly into the execution phase and confident in the success of its future development. This world-class venture also demonstrates Shell's and Qatar Petroleum's joint efforts to strengthen security and diversity of natural gas supply primarily to the US, the world's largest natural gas market."