Officials in Qatar this morning are celebrating the opening of a new refinery in Ras Laffan that will boost the country’s ability to process natural gas.

The $1.5 billion Laffan Refinery 2 (LR2) processes some 146,000 barrels per day of condensate from the North Field. This is the single largest natural gas reserve in the world.

This effectively doubles capacity when working in tandem with LR1, which has been operating since 2009.

Production at the new plant actually began in December. But the refinery is being formally inaugurated by Qatar’s Emir today during an event at the Qatar National Convention Center.

Diversification

In a statement last year, Saad Sherida al Kaabi, Qatar Petroleum President and CEO, and Chairman of Qatargas Board of Directors, said:

“The expansion of the existing capacity has been implemented within the framework of an integrated plan to develop the oil and gas industry in Qatar and to diversify the utilization of natural resources as well as to meet current and future needs of the domestic market of high-quality petroleum products.”

According to operator Qatargas, the LR2 has a daily production capacity of 60,000 barrels of naphtha. It can also produce 53,000 barrels of jet fuel, 24,000 barrels of gasoil and 9,000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) a day.

LR2’s shareholders are Qatar Petroleum (84 percent), Total (10 percent), Cosmo (2 percent), Idemitsu (2 percent), Mitsui (1 percent) and Marubeni (1 percent).

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