By Satish Kanady
DOHA: H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, the Minister of Energy and Industry, yesterday disclosed that the total cost of the recently launched Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex is an estimated $6.5bn. The complex will be operational by 2018.
“At this stage we cannot provide an exact figure. As we go further we may be able to provide the accurate cost. Now the rough estimate is around $6.5bn”, Dr Al Sada told the media after announcing the awarding of front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for the plant to Fluor, a global engineering construction company, here yesterday.
In the QP-Shell joint venture Al-Karaana, QP has 80 percent stake and 20 percent by Shell. “The Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex project has been envisioned to further boost Qatar’s rapidly growing stature in the global petrochemicals industry. I am very pleased to see the project taking a significant step forward,” the Minister added.
Graham van’t Hoff, Executive Vice President for Shell Chemicals, said: “The proposed Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex project underlines Shell’s growth aspirations in the Middle East, and our contribution towards supporting Qatar’s strategy to diversify its energy industry and produce cost-competitive products. I am delighted with the achievement of yet another significant milestone in the project’s development.”
Wael Sawan, Managing Director and Chairman of Qatar Shell, said: “The positive development of the Al-Karaana project clearly indicates the depth of our partnership with the State of Qatar. We are confident the project will help to support the country’s energy diversification strategy.”
The chairman of the project’s Executive Committee, Mohammed Nasser Al-Hajri, who is also QP’s Downstream Ventures Director, said: “QP and Shell worked closely together to reach this important project milestone. The focus of the project team is on the delivery of a quality FEED that will be a major step towards successfully delivering this project which is an important part of our overall petrochemical development plan. We are delighted to have awarded the integrated FEED contract to Fluor, a world class engineering company with a proven track record and expect Fluor of delivering FEED work of the highest quality and standards in industry.”
The scope under consideration for the Al-Karaana Petrochemical Complex project includes a world-scale steam cracker, with feedstock coming from natural gas projects in Qatar; a 1.5m tons per annum mono-ethylene glycol plant using Shell’s proprietary OMEGA (Only MEG Advantaged) technology; a 300 thousand tons per annum linear alpha olefin unit using the proprietary Shell Higher Olefins Process; and a 250 thousand tons per annum OXO products.
The Minister also unveiled the official logo of the Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex project. The logo was designed by a Qatari artist and graphic designer Manar Al Muftah.
The Peninsula
