Qatar Petroleum International has entered into a joint venture deal with Thai-based Siam Cement Group and its Vietnamese partners - PetroVietnam (PVN) and Vinachem - to invest in the country’s first petrochemicals complex, a $4.5 billion project.

Announcing the deal, Kan Trakulhoon, president and CEO of Siam Cement Group said, 'This signing ceremony is the beginning of the landmark collaboration and another stepping stone on the journey of prosperity and success together.'

'With $4.5 billion investment, the project will be Vietnam’s first integrated petrochemicals complex, serving as the spring board for import substitute and value-added conversion industries for the country, and a vehicle to capture Asean growth for Vietnam,' he noted.

'In addition to full integration and economies of scale, security and availability of long term feedstock is essential to the competitiveness of this project,' Trakulhoon added.

In this connection, Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Company (Tasweeq), the exclusive marketer of regulated products from Qatar, has signed a long term feedstock agreement to supply the cracker with propane and naphtha, while PV Gas, a subsidiary of PetroVietnam, signed a MoU to supply ethane, said the official.

With this JV agreement, Siam Cement holds 28 per cent stake in the project, while Thai Plastic and Chemicals (TPC) holds another 18 per cent.

'The remaining are significant strategic partners comprising of QPI Vietnam (subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum International), Petro Vietnam and Vinachem. Following the signing of this joint venture agreement, and finalization of the financing agreements, the commercial operation is expected in the next 4 years,' said Trakulhoon.

The complex will have a capacity of 1.4-M Tonnes olefins from a flexible cracker utilizing feedstock as ethane, propane and naphtha, with supporting infrastructure, such as storage facilities, port, jetty, power plant and other utilities.

Furthermore, the cracker will be fully integrated with a wide range of downstream products, including polyethylene, polypropylene and vinyl chloride monomer.

The majority of these products will be consumed domestically, supporting a total Vietnamese population of approximately 90 million, said Trakulhoon.

“The petrochemicals complex will utilize state-of-the-art technology with health, safety and environment benchmarks of international standards. Its products will be able to serve growing demand in both Vietnam and Asean,” he noted.

Located on Long Son Island, province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in southern Vietnam, and adjacent to Vietnam’s future refinery for operational synergy, 100 km southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, the petrochemical complex will be in proximity of south Vietnam market.

'The complex has an excellent synergy with a wide array of Vietnamese industries such as consumer goods packaging, PVC pipe and profiles, electrical appliances, auto industry, etc, all of which will help contribute to the growth of Vietnamese economy,' said Trakulhoon.-TradeArabia News Service