Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco), a joint venture between Industries Qatar and Total, has opened its new state-of-the-art, third low-density polyethylene plant LDPE 3 at a ceremony in Mesaieed Industrial City.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, officially launched the plant at the ceremony attended by ministers and other VVIP dignitaries.

At peak capacity, the new facility will be able to produce 300,000 metric tons per year (tpy) of low density polyethylene. Combined with Qapco’s existing LDPE facilities, this pushes up the country’s output to 700,000 metric tons of LDPE per annum.

The ceremony was followed Sheikh Hamad by taking a tour of the LDPE 3 facility, escorted by Dr Mohamed bin Saleh Al Sada, Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry, Patrick Pouyanne, member of the Executive Committee of Total, and senior Qapco officials.

“Great achievements are the result of even greater visions,” said Dr Al Sada. “This modern facility is a direct and physical manifestation of Qatar’s National Vision 2030, guided by the country’s wise leadership.”

“While Qatar is blessed by plentiful natural resources, it is the value that is created by processing the raw products that moves the country towards its economic diversification goals in the coming decades.

“On a national level, the country and its people can be proud that with LDPE 3, we continue to reinforce Qatar’s position as not only a regional industrial power, but also a global one. With the launching of LDPE 3 and plans to develop other petrochemical plants, Qatar is set to join the exclusive club of major petrochemical producers and exporters.”

“For nearly three decades, Qapco has been at the forefront of Qatar’s industrial output,” said Qapco’s chairman Hamad Rashid Al-Mohannadi.

“The LDPE 3 facility is another step in our development plans to span the next several years.  As we have delivered excellence in past more than thirty years, we will continue to deliver for the next thirty years and beyond.”

Currently, Qapco’s manufacturing facilities consist of an 800 KTPA (kilo-ton per annum) ethylene plant, a 70 KTPA sulfur processing facility, and two existing LDPE plants with total production capacity of 400 KTPA.

With the plans for developing LDPE 3 set in motion in 2002, construction was initiated in 2009 when Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani laid down the foundation stone for the facility.

The EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) contract was awarded to Germany’s Udhe, a company renowned for designing and building chemical complex plants all over the world.  In addition, the technology is licensed by Basell, another global giant in the sector.

The facility was built at a cost of QR2.3 billion ($631 million), which included the migration of the control centers from the two existing Qapco facilities into one central control room.

LDPE 3 also meets the stringent environmental standards as set forth by Qatar’s Ministry of Environment.  No run-off flows into the clear waters off the coast of Mesaieed, and additionally, heat produced at the plant is recycled for heating and power.  Safety regulations were especially adhered to, with a milestone 12.7 million man-hours with no loss time recorded.

Designed to exploit Qapco’s available surplus feedstock coming from its other facilities, LDPE 3’s products will be sold in international markets under the brand name ‘Lotrene’ – a name customer’s associate with quality and excellence.

Qapco’s industrial clients will benefit from the facilities’ premium low density polyethylene, the raw material used in everything from  packaging films, agricultural film, extrusion and coating lamination film, high clarity film, injection molding, pipes, cables, wires, and other related products.

LPDE 3 is Qapco’s latest petrochemical facility located in Mesaieed Industrial City, 40 km south of Doha. – TradeArabia News Service