Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil Corporation will celebrate the completion of RasGas Train 5 in Doha on March 20. RasGas Company Limited is a joint venture owned by Qatar Petroleum (QP) and ExxonMobil RasGas Inc.

RasGas Train 5, one of the largest LNG plants in the world, was completed ahead of schedule in just 29 months and under budget. Train 5 is designed to produce 4.7 million tons per year (MTA) of LNG and will supply gas into the northern European market.

"RasGas Train 5 is the third of its size to be built in Qatar. Repeating a proven design is a part of ExxonMobil's overall investment strategy that has paid off in cost and schedule savings in many recent projects," said Stuart McGill, senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

RasGas operates five trains in Ras Laffan. In addition, RasGas is constructing the world's largest trains ever built. Trains 6 and 7, each with volumes of 7.8 MTA, are expected to startup in 2008 and 2009.

Technology is a key enabler to achieve the scale, the size and the cost efficiencies of each train to significantly lower the unit cost of producing LNG. In the space of about ten years, ExxonMobil's joint venture facilities in Qatar will have grown to over 60 MTA, contributing to Qatar becoming the world's largest LNG supplier. Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil are also developing LNG regasification terminals in the U.K., the U.S., and offshore Italy.

"We congratulate the many people whose efforts during the last several years made the startup of Train 5 a success by any measure," stated McGill. "We commend RasGas for their world class safety performance during the construction of Train 5."