Chemical projects due to come on stream in the Middle East

The final countdown

03 December 2007 00:00  [Source: ICB]

The Middle East offers huge feedstock advantages, while being strategically positioned for export opportunities. Engineering, procurement and construction costs continue to escalate, but for all the talk of  lengthy delays and labor shortages , the Middle East is a hive of activity. Countless projects are due to come onstream in the coming years

Andy Brice/London

TKOC - KUWAIT*

The Kuwait Olefins Co. (TKOC), which is a joint venture project between Petrochemical Industries Co. of Kuwait and Dow Chemical, is building a new ethylene and derivatives complex in Shuaiba. The project - known as Olefins II - should be complete towards the end of next year.

JPC - IRAN*

The Jam Petrochemical Co. (JPC) massive cracker project in Assaluyeh, Iran, is due to start up at the beginning of 2008 after a spate of lengthy delays.

JPC, a subsidiary of Iran's National Petrochemical Co., has repeatedly postponed the project's start-up, blaming limited funds and a lack of skilled manpower in the region. The cracker was originally expected to be completed toward the end of 2005.

When complete, the site will produce some 1.32m tonnes/year of ethylene and 305,000 tonnes/year of propylene.

The JPC project also includes a high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit, an HDPE/linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit and a polypropylene (PP) unit. Each has a capacity of 300,000 tonnes/year.

RAS TANURA - SAUDI ARABIA*

Back in May, Dow Chemical and state oil company Saudi Aramco announced a memorandum of understanding to build, own and operate the Ras Tanura integrated project in Saudi Arabia.

The much-publicized project is set to be the world's largest petrochemical complex, involving 30 worldscale petrochemical plants. Located in Ras Tanura, it will be integrated with Aramco's 550,000 bbl/day refinery site and its Ju'aymah gas processing plant.

It is expected to come onstream in 2012 at a total cost of around $20bn (€14.8bn).

PETRO RABIGH - SAUDI ARABIA*

When completed in early 2009, the Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical (Petro Rabigh) project in Saudi Arabia will be home to an 18.4m tonne/year refinery and a cracker capable of producing 1.3m and 900,000 tonnes/year of ethylene and propylene respectively.

The complex will also produce 700,000 tonnes/year of polypropylene (PP), 350,000 tonnes/year of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), 300,000 tonnes/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE), and 250,000 tonnes/year of easy processing polyethylene (EPPE).

The 50/50 joint venture between state-owned Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical has announced plans to launch an initial public offering of 25% of its shares early next year.

SHARQ - SAUDI ARABIA

Mid-2008 will see the start-up of the Eastern Petrochemical (Sharq) cracker and derivative plants at Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

The facilities include a 1.3m tonne/year cracker, a 700,000 tonne/year monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit, 400,000 tonne/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit and a 400,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant.

Sharq is a 50/50 joint venture between SABIC and Japanese consortium SPDC.

BOROUGE - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES*

Borouge, a joint venture between Borealis and ADNOC, is building a new 1.5m tonne/year cracker at Ruwais, United Arab Emirates.

The project, which is slated for commissioning in the first half of 2010, includes 540,000 tonnes/year of polyethylene (PE) and 800,000 tonnes/year of polypropylene (PP) capacity.

It will be the first facility in the region to use ethane to make PP, and will house the world's largest metathesis and dimerisation units.

KEY MIDDLE EAST OLEFINS AND POLYOLEFINS PROJECTS

Product	Company	Location	Capacity	Onstream	Status
PP	Oriental Petrochemicals Co.	Egypt	200,000	Post-2007	study
Propylene	Egyptian Propylene and	Suez, Egypt	400,000	Q2 2010	engineering
PP	Polypropylene Co.		400,000	Q2 2010	engineering
Propylene	Esfahan Oil Refining Co.	Iran	190,000	Mid-2009	planned
Ethylene	Gachsaran Petrochemical	Iran	1m	Post-2010	construction
PE	Arya Sasol Polymers Co.	Assaluyeh, Iran	300,000	2010	study
Ethylene	Bakhtar Petrochemical Co.	Assaluyeh, Iran	2.4m	Post-2010	study
Ethylene	Jam Petrochemical Co. (JPC)	Assaluyeh, Iran	1.32m	Q1 2008	construction
Propylene			305,000	Q1 2008	construction
PP	JPC/Sadra	Assaluyeh, Iran	300,000	Q2 2008	construction
Ethylene	Morvarid Petrochemical Co.	Assaluyeh, Iran	500,000	2009-10	engineering
Propylene			38,000	2009-10	engineering
Ethylene	Ilam Petrochemical Co.	Chovar,Iran	500,000	2010	study
Propylene			140,000	2010	study
PP	Petrochemical Industries Co.	Kuwait	160,000	H2 2008	planned
Ethylene	The Kuwait Olefins Co.	Shuaiba, Kuwait	850,000	H2 2008	construction
Ethylene	ExxonMobil Chemical/Qatar Petroleum	Ras Laffan, Qatar	1.3m	2012	study
Ethylene	Ras Laffan Olefins Co.	Ras Laffan, Qatar	1.3m	Q1 2009	construction
Ethylene	Shell Chemicals/Qatar Petroleum	Ras Laffan, Qatar	1.25m	2011-12	pending
Ethylene	Qatar Petrochemical Co.	Mesaieed, Qatar	720,000	H2 2007	construction
PE	Q-Chem II	Mesaieed, Qatar	350,000	Q1 2009	construction
Propylene	Advanced Polypropylene Co.	Saudi Arabia	455,000	Q1 2008	construction
Propylene			450,000	Post-2009	study
PP			450,000	Q1 2008	construction
Ethylene	Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co.	Saudi Arabia	1.35m	2010	construction
Propylene			550,000	2010	engineering
PP			450,000	Q4 2009	engineering
Ethylene	Saudi Ethylene and Polyethylene Co.	Saudi Arabia	1m	Q4 2008	construction
Propylene			285,000	Q4 2008	construction
Propylene	Al-Waha Petrochemical Co.	Al-Jubail,	460,000	Q1 2009	engineering
PP		Saudi Arabia	450,000	Q1 2009	construction
Ethylene	Arabian Petrochemical (Petrokemya)		960,000	Q1 2009	engineering
Ethylene	Jubail Chevron Phillips Co.	Al-Jubail,	300,000	Q1 2008	construction
Propylene		Saudi Arabia	150,000	Q1 2008	construction
Ethylene	Eastern Petrochemical (Sharq)	Al-Jubail,	1.3m	Q3 2008	construction
Propylene		Saudi Arabia	200,000	Q3 2008	construction
PP	Saudi Polyolefins Co.	Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia		Q1 2009	study
PP	Saudi-European Petrochemical	Al-Jubail,	500,000	Q3 2008	construction
Propylene	(Ibn Zahr)	Saudi Arabia	150,000	2009	planned
Ethylene	Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co.	Rabigh,	1.3m	H1 2009	construction
Propylene	(Petro Rabigh)	Saudi Arabia	900,000	H1 2009	construction
PP			700,000	H1 2009	construction
Ethylene	Ras Tanura Integrated	Ras Tanura,	1.2m	2012	study
Propylene	Petrochemical Co.	Saudi Arabia	400,000	2012	study
Propylene	National Propylene (Alfasel)	Yanbu, Saudi Arabia	420,000	Q1 2008	planned
PP	Teldene	Yanbu, Saudi Arabia	420,000	Q1 2008	construction
Ethylene	Yanbu National Petrochemical	Yanbu, Saudi Arabia	1.3m	Q2 2008	construction
Propylene	(YanSab)		400,000	Q2 2008	construction
PP			400,000	Q2 2008	construction
Ethylene	Borouge	Ruwais, UAE	1.5m	2010	engineering
Propylene			800,000	May-10	engineering
PP			800,000	2010	engineering
Propylene			-	2012	study

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