Honeywell's UOP And Qatar Petroleum To Jointly Develop Natural Gas Treating Technology

DOHA, Qatar, Jan. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- UOP LLC, a Honeywell (NYSE: HON) company, announced today that it has signed a joint research and development agreement with Qatar Petroleum (QP) to develop new ways to cost effectively treat natural gas for the production of Liquefied Natural Gas, or LNG. 

Under the agreement, the two companies will work together to develop more efficient technologies to remove contaminants from natural gas, so that it can be liquefied for transportation by ship and other means.

The agreement was signed at QP headquarters by His Excellency Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman of QP, and UOP President and CEO Dr. Rajeev Gautam.

Honeywell's UOP is a leader in natural gas treating technologies, which are currently used in QP's LNG and gas processing facilities. QP's joint venture companies, Qatargas and RasGas, have a combined LNG production capacity of 77 million tonnes per annum (mta), making Qatar the world's largest producer and exporter of LNG.

H.E. Dr. Al-Sada said the agreement is an important milestone in Qatar's gas industry. "Qatar is constantly working to facilitate the optimum development of its hydrocarbon resources, and this agreement is another step in that direction," said H.E. Dr. Al-Sada. "Developing more efficient technologies to remove contaminants from natural gas will help boost Qatar's reputation as a safe, reliable supplier of natural gas as well as high-quality products."

Dr. Gautam said, "Global natural gas demand is growing rapidly and LNG production is critical to meeting the needs of regions not served by pipelines and to enable global trade. Qatar Petroleum is a recognized leader in the production of LNG for world markets, and we look forward to extending our long-standing partnership to develop technology in this important field." 

UOP's separation technology and equipment remove contaminants such as sulfur, water and carbon dioxide from natural gas in order to meet rigorous product specifications and requirements for downstream transmission and liquefaction equipment. In liquefied form, natural gas can be easily and efficiently transported to markets around the world, where it is used for a wide variety of energy applications.

Honeywell's UOP Gas Processing and Hydrogen business unit offers technology, equipment and materials to treat and process natural gas, as well as to purify the hydrogen used in refineries. Its gas technologies extract water, mercury, sulfur, carbon dioxide and other contaminants from raw natural gas. UOP also offers technologies to recover natural gas liquids (NGLs). The business has supplied technology to more than 3,600 individual process units for gas processing in a broad range of applications through the world.

UOP has increased its offerings in natural gas in recent years. Earlier this year, it launched UOP Separex Flux+ and Select membrane elements to remove contaminants such as acid gas and water from natural gas. In 2012, the company purchased a majority stake in Thomas Russell Co., which offers technologies and modularized packaged plants enabling shale and conventional natural gas producers to remove contaminants from natural gas and recover high-value NGLs used for petrochemicals and fuels. Thomas Russell products are now part of the UOP Russell line. UOP also has marketing alliances with Twister B.V., and Ortloff Engineers, Ltd. for natural gas separation technology to recover NGLs.

Last year, QP and UOP collaborated to establish the first Engineering Design Seminar program in the Middle East to meet the growing demand for highly-trained engineers who specialize in refinery process units and equipment.

QP is a state-owned public corporation established by Emiri Decree No. 10 in 1974. It is responsible for all phases of the oil and gas industry in the State of Qatar. The principal activities of QP, its subsidiaries and joint ventures are the exploration, production, local and international sale of crude oil, natural gas and gas liquids, refined products, synthetic fuels, petrochemicals, fuel additives, fertilizers, liquefied natural gas (LNG), steel and aluminium. For more information, visit www.qp.com.qa

UOP LLC is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, process plants, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. UOP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc. and is part of Honeywell's Performance Materials and Technologies strategic business group. For more information, go to www.uop.com.

Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes, and industry; turbochargers; and performance materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visitwww.honeywellnow.com. 

This release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that we or our management intends, expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. The forward-looking statements included in this release are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those envisaged by such forward-looking statements. We identify the principal risks and uncertainties that affect our performance in our Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Honeywell