Qapco signs contract with Eitzen Norgas Carrier for shipping ethylene

The signing ceremony was held at Four Seasons Hotel in Doha.

The contract was signed on behalf of Qapco by Dr. Mohd Yousef Al-Mulla, GM of Qapco and Mr. Abdul Rahman Al-Abdullah, Group Manager, Commercial & Marketing. While on behalf of ENGC, the contract was signed by Mr. Terje Orehagen, President & COO of Norgas Carriers, Mr. Anders Rasmussen, Managing Director.

According to this COA contract, ENGC will ship Qapco's Ethylene expansion Plant's (EP2) products of ethylene, and ENGC to meet Qapco's full transportation solution for its ethylene export until end of the year 2008. Taking into consideration that the destinations for Qapco"s ethylene exports will cover, India, SE Asia and West Europe.

ENGC is a pool established by Eitzen Gas and NGC (Norwegian Gas Carriers) for marine transportation services of petrochemical gases,LPG, ship-to-ship transfer of crude oil etc. ENGC currently operates a fleet of 32 vessels including 30 semi refrigerated ethylene vessels and 2 non-ethylene vessels ranging from 6000 to 12,000 cbm. ENGC boasts one of the leading ethylene transportation service providers in the world. ENGC has dominant presence in the Middle East, handling substantial ethylene business with major petrochemical producers.

Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco), a joint venture between Industries Qatar (IQ) and Total Petrochemical of France, is engaged in the manufacturing of ethylene, polyethylene and sulphur. Qapco's (EP2) was completed in July 2007, and recently the company resumed its ethylene export operation since October 2007.

The ethylene production capacity has been increased by about 200 KT per year, and accordingly decided to export the surplus ethylene into various international markets. Qapco has potential to export about 120~ 140 KT per year and to transport this volume into various customer base, it needs about 25~30 shipments per year.

In his speech on this occasion, Dr. Al-Mulla, GM of Qapco stated that the agreement Qapco is signing today truly reflects the successful business relationship with our partners, ENGC. This relation goes back to January 1999 when Qapco had signed the first Contract of Affreightment (COA). However Qapco had discontinued its ethylene export since the start up of Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC) in 2002, as the surplus ethylene has been allocated to QVC for delivery through a pipeline.

In a press conference held on this function, Dr. Al-Mulla, GM of Qapco declared that Qapco had adopted a strategic partnership with ENGC, as a leading petrochemical gas shipping company. "We are confident that our signing ceremony today will enable us further consolidate our mutual cooperation with ENGC." he added.

Mr. Abdul Rahman Al-Abdullah, Qapco's Group Manager, Commercial and Marketing said that constant and perseverant efforts are being exerted to expand the company's marketing network to reach the world markets.

"We are striving to achieve excellence in customs services through producing high quality products and through gaining their confidence to meet all their demands on the due time. We are also keen to keep up the competitive position as LDPE supplier and LLDPE in the future upon the completion of QATOFIN, scheduled in the 4th quarter of 2008," he added.

In his speech, Mr. Terje Orehagen, President and COO of Norgas Carriers congratulated the management of Qapco on the successful completion of Ethylene Expansion Project (EP2). He expressed his happiness that the Norwegian Gas Carriers (NGC) has had a strategic relationship with Qapco since 1997, and during this period, they shipped from Qapco's plant in Mesaieedclose to 500,000 mts of Ethylene up to 2002. He referred to the continual cooperation with Qapco since that time and until now.

"We are proud of the existing successful relationship between both sides, and also to see Qapco returning to the world stage as a major ethylene exporter," he concluded.