UpdateQatar Petroleum, Shell sign MoU for Ras Laffan petchem project

21 December 2010 11:54  [Source: ICIS news]

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SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Qatar Petroleum and Shell have signed a memorandum of understanding for the joint development of a world-scale mixed feed cracker and petrochemicals complex at Ras Laffan in Qatar, Shell said on Tuesday.

The project would include a monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant with a capacity of up to 1.5m tonnes/year that would use Shell’s proprietary OMEGA technology, Shell added.

Also under consideration were other olefin derivative plants that would yield more than 2m tonnes/year of finished products, Shell said.

The feasibility study for the Shell/QP cracker and downstream units would now begin in earnest, a Shell spokeswoman said. The MEG plant is likely to be the world's largest and has been under consideration for some time.

Shell’s new 750,000 tonnes per annum MEG plant in Singapore is currently one of the world’s largest, the spokeswoman said, and the third facility worldwide, to use the Shell technology. Other plants using OMEGA are operating in South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Shell, Total and ExxonMobil are vying for a cracker project, or cracker projects, in Qatar and in discussion with Qatar Petroleum for feedstock allocation.

Qatar Petroleum and Shell are jointly building the Pearl Gas to Liquids (GTL) and Qatargas 4 LNG facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar.

“Together with Shell, we aim to study and develop a major petrochemical complex which aligns with our plans of increased petrochemical production and diversification of our product portfolio,” said Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Qatar deputy prime minister and minister for energy and industry, in a statement.

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By: Pearl Bantillo
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