Dukhan is an industrial city located in western Qatar

Qatar

Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

. It is located approximately 60 kilometers west of the capital, Doha

Doha

Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...

. Dukhan is administrated by Qatar's state oil agency Qatar Petroleum

Qatar Petroleum

Qatar Petroleum is a state owned petroleum company in Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. QP's Chairman Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, is also the head of the Ministry of Energy and Industry and, as...

and holds an important place in Qatar's oil industry. All the industrial operations inside Dukhan are administrated by Dukhan Operations department situated inside the Dukhan Operations Management Building (DOMB). Any person willing to visit or work in Dukhan requires a special permit from Qatar Petroleum in the form of a Dukhan entry gate pass.

There are many contractors working in Dukhan for Qatar Petroleum, mainly involved in oil explorations, plant operations, shut-downs and construction of infrastructure. Qatar's only four-lane motorway connects Doha with Dukhan. Dukhan beach is famous in Qatar for surfing and swimming and as a picnic spot.

History

Oil was first discovered in Dukhan in 1938. The original settlement was built as an oil camp for personnel of the Qatar Petroleum Company. The city’s development stepped up a gear when the Dukhan power station was commissioned in 1958, and natural gas was discovered in the Khuff Reservoir the following year, at an average depth of 10,000 feet. Over the next few decades Dukhan’s growth continued to pick up speed. In 1974 the Fahahil plant was commissioned to recover raw natural gas liquids (NGL) from associated gas (which is found in either dissolved in crude oil or as a ‘cap’ of gas above the oil). This milestone was followed in 1976 by the first development well in the Khuff reservoir, and from 1978 to 1982 eight Khuff wellhead treatment plants were commissioned. Dukhan expanded further in 1989, when the Dukhan reservoir Power Water Injection (PWI) project began, to address the problem of rising water levels in the reservoirs. PWI helped to enhance oil recovery and maintain reservoir pressure in the Dukhan field. Meanwhile, the Fahahil compression station began operations in 1992, to pressurise the Khuff reservoir with surplus North Field gas and help stabilise production. Progress continued throughout the late 1990s and early years of this decade, with several major enhancements – including the two-stage Arab D project to develop the production of gas and condensates, inaugurated by HH the Emir of Qatar in 1998.

Changing City

Looking ahead, the growth of Dukhan shows
no signs of slowing. Future plans include the
Dukhan Gas Lift project to help maintain crude
oil production. The gas lift system will supply
gas to approximately 300 wells in Dukhan. Also
forthcoming is Phase VI of the Powered Water
Injection (PWI) project, which will increase the
number of PWI stations from two to three and
result in greater PWI capacity – rising from
538,000 to 708,000 barrels of water per day.
As well as industrial infrastructure improvement
projects, significant urban infrastructure projects
are in hand throughout Dukhan. The area strategic
urban development plan was set up in 2003
and is being carried out in four stages.