Al-Karaana to boost Qatar's petrochemical capacity by 25%

21 Mar '14

2 min read

The new Al-Karaana petrochemical project, coming up at an estimated cost of US$ 6.5 billion, is expected to increase Qatar’s petrochemical production capacity by 25 percent, according to a Gulf Times report.

Talking to presspersons on the sidelines of a project conference, Stijn van Els, CEO (designate) of Al-Karaana, said they are considering a mix of conventional bank loans and Islamic financing for the project, which is now in the midst of FEED phase, and will now embark on the next stage of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC).

The Al-Karaana project, an 80:20 joint venture of Qatar Petroleum and Shell Petrochemicals, is scheduled to be completed by 2018 and will comprise a steam cracker, a mono ethylene glycol plant, a linear alpha olefin unit and an oxo alcohol unit.

Upon commissioning, the project would have a total petrochemical production capacity of 2 million tons per annum, Els said, and added that the project has been designed to produce 1.5 million tons of mono ethylene glycol per year, 300 million tons of linear alpha olefin and another 250 million tons of oxo alcohol.

The Al-Karaana project would be fully integrated with other projects and the steam cracker at the petrochemical complex would use feedstock from natural gas projects in Qatar, he informed.

The mono-ethylene glycol plant within the Al-Karaana complex would be the world’s largest of its kind, and would use Shell’s proprietary MEGA process technology, he added.

Most of the Al-Karaana petrochemical products would be exported, mainly to Asian markets, and some quantity would be consumed domestically, Els said.

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