QAPCO signs technology agreement with Basell

Eng. Mohd Yousef Al-Mulla, General Manager of Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO), a joint venture between Industries Qatar (80%) & Total Petrochemicals of France (20%), has signed a technology license agreement with BASELL Polyolefin GmbH of Germany for its new low Density Polyethylene Plant, LDPE 3, located at Mesaieed Industrial City (MIC), with a capacity of 250 KT (Expandable to 300KT).

Dr. Just Jansz, President of Technology Business, signed the agreement on behalf of Basell Polyolefin Co.

Present at the signing ceremony from QAPCO's side, were Dept managers and officials of QAPCO, Qatar Vinyl Co. (QVC), Qatofin and Total Petrochemicals From Basell's side, Dr. Kaspar Evertz, Senior Vice President Technology Business/Licensing and other officials.

The technology license Company "BASELL Polyolefin GmbH" was selected by QAPCO after going through the process of international biding and in conformity with Technical, contractual & other commercial aspects.

Basell is a global leader in the development and licensing of polypropylene and polyethylene processes. They are currently one of the largest producers of polypropylene and polyolefin's products and have manufacturing facilities around the world.

Speaking after the agreement signing, Eng. Mohd Al-Mulla said "The investment in LDPE-3 Project has been decided by QAPCO on the basis of excess ethylene available from QAPCO Ethylene Expansion project (EP-2) and also on the basis of additional ethylene likely to be available from Qatofin's share of ethylene in Ras laffan Cracker of 1.3 Million Tonnes after feeding the requirement of its LLDPE plant of the capacity of 450KT. The LDPE production coming from new plant primarily would be sold in Asia and Europe. The project has its own specific features and economies.

Eng. Al- Mulla pointed out that the large scale of LDPE production shall bring economy to the overall operations, besides increasing the overall revenues and profits of QAPCO.

"The LDPE-3 Project is forecasted to be completed at the end of year 2010 with commercial production expected in early 2011. After the startup of LDPE-3 plant, the total PE capacity of QAPCO including QATOFIN would increase to approx. 1.2 Million tones per annum comprising of 650-700KT of LDPE and 450KT of LLDPE", Eng. Al-Mulla.

Dr. Just Jansz, Basell's President of Technology Business, said that his company was pleased to sign this technology agreement with Qapco and expressed his hope that such partnership will be successful and fruitful. He also expressed his admiration of the boost and great development he has witnessed in the State of Qatar.

VC Eng. Al-Mohanadi also wished all success to the forthcoming LDPE (3) project.

Polyethylene is a thermoplastic material, which is widely used nowadays. Its consumption has increased dramatically in the last few decades. The Per capital demand for polyethylene continues to increase globally at a steady pace as this commodity is being utilized worldwide for packaging food, detergents, oil and other various products, for making pipes and fittings in the construction industry, for making components widely used in automobiles sector, and for various usages in applications in Agriculture & Medical fields etc. In other words, there is hardly any area, where the Polyethylene products are not being used and touching everyone's daily life.

QAPCO and its shareholder partner TOTAL PETROCHEMICALS, FRANCE have worked together successfully for more than 25 years selling QAPCO's LDPE products, thanks to its strong advantages of high quality and competitive prices.