“The project is nearly complete”, Qapco said in a recent report.

The petrochemical major said a sharp increase in oil prices along with numerous unscheduled cracker shutdowns mainly in Europe and Asia, led to “extremely tight supply and acute demand” for ethylene.

Qapco said with EP2 coming online, ethylene supply to Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC) would increase. QVC, a Qapco joint venture, had been under “tremendous pressure” because of the high cost of ethylene, both locally sourced and imported, the report said.

According to Qapco, significant progress had been achieved in the Ras Laffan Ethane Cracker and Qatofin projects in which the company holds a stake.

The ethane cracker to be constructed in Ras Laffan Industrial City will have a capacity of 1.3mn tonnes per annum.

The Qatofin project for production of linear low-density polyethylene will have a nameplate capacity of 450,000 tonnes per annum and will be constructed at Mesaieed Industrial City, adjacent to Qapco facilities. The project has been slated for a completion in end-2008 and commercial production is expected to commence in early 2009.

After the start-up of the ethylene expansion project and the Qatofin project, a significant quantity of ethylene will be available either for export or as feedstock for the downstream derivative units.

“The proposal to invest in a new low-density polyethylene (LDPE-3) plant of 250,000 tonnes capacity is under advanced stage of discussion and the prospective technology licensor has been identified. The final selection is expected this year itself and the project is expected to go onstream in 2011,” Qapco said.

In its drive to offer a larger basket of petrochemical items to its customers worldwide, Qapco said it is expanding its product range. Qapco currently markets 37.5% of QVC’s ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloro monomer and caustic soda and 10% of Q-Chem’s high-density polyethylene production.

In the near future, Qapco will be marketing 10% of products from Q-Chem II, Qatofin (50%) and LDPE-3 (100%).

Qatar’s petrochemical industry is presently on the threshold of unprecedented growth. The significant increase in petrochemical exports from Qatar has resulted in the sector playing a key role in boosting the economic growth.

Qatar has long-term plans to expand its existing petrochemical industry and to develop new projects based on the feedstock available from the production of pipeline gas, LNG and GTL. Recently QP said the next five years would see over $75bn being invested in development and expansion projects.

PIN/Gulf-Times.Com