Chevron Phillips, Qatar Petroleum team up for giant petrochemical project in Middle East

On the heels of reports that it’s interested in buying Calgary-based Nova Chemicals Corp., Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. has signed a deal with Qatar Petroleum to pursue the building of a petrochemicals complex in Qatar to produce ethylene and high-density polyethylene (HDPE).

The new petrochemical plant will be built north of Doha in Ras Laffan Industrial City and will come online by 2025 and tap the increased North Field production for feedstock, Qatar Petroleum CEO Saad al-Kaabi said at a press conference during the signing.

The Woodlands, Tex.-based Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. – which is a joint venture of Chevron Corp and Phillips 66 – will own a 30 per cent stake in the complex, with the rest owned by Qatar Petroleum.

Qatar’s plant will include an ethane cracker with an annual ethylene capacity of about 1.9 million tonnes, making it the Middle East’s largest and one of the biggest in the world, said Kaabi, adding that the plant will increase Qatar’s polyethylene output capacity by 82%.

“Developing this project is a tremendous opportunity for our company to expand on our highly successful joint ventures with Qatar to meet the growing global demand for petrochemical products that enrich lives around the world,” said Mark E. Lashier, President and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical. “Qatar is one of the world’s leading producers of the natural gas liquids that will fuel these world-scale assets. This project fits perfectly with our global strategy to build petrochemical assets in regions of the world where feedstock options are abundant and competitively-priced.”

According to a news report in Reuters, Kaabi said it was too early to give an estimated cost for the project as the engineering study was not over yet but added that the complex’s cost would be in the “billions of dollars”.

Qatar produces about 2,300 tonnes per year of polyethylene, and the plant will raise its output potential to about 4,300 tonnes.