Kuwait's Equate Q1 earnings exceed targets - CEO

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--EQUATE Petrochemical Co beat its own targets in posting $222m (€186m) profits in the first quarter, its president and CEO Hamad Al-Terkait said on Wednesday.

Addressing the company’s management forum, Al-Terkait said: “Despite the adverse global financial situation, EQUATE’s sales volume and net profit were better than original forecasts.”

The profit, which includes those from The Kuwait Olefins Co (TKOC) that it operates, was 84% higher than originally planned, he said.

EQUATE chief financial officer Abdulkarim Mubarak, in a separate statement, said that the company’s plants were operating at full capacity for the whole of the first quarter.

It was the first time that the plants ran at 100% operating rate since start-up, EQUATE said.

The company can produce up to 5m tonnes/year of petrochemical products.

EQUATE is a joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Co (PIC), Dow Chemical, Boubyan Petrochemical Co and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Co.

($1 = €0.84)