QP & Shell Announce FEED Award for Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex and Launch Project's Logo

Doha, February 28 (QNA) - Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Shell have launched today the logo of the Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City and also announced the award of the project s Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract to Fluor, a global engineering construction company. This is an important milestone for the project as it completes the full scope and definition for the development of this world-scale facility. HE Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar s Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman & Managing Director of QP, said: "The Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex project has been envisioned to further boost Qatar s rapidly growing stature in the global petrochemicals industry. I am very pleased to see the project taking a significant step forward." Graham van t Hoff, Executive Vice President for Shell Chemicals, said: "The proposed Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex project underlines Shell s growth aspirations in the Middle East, and our contribution towards supporting Qatar s strategy to diversify its energy industry and produce cost-competitive products. I am delighted with the achievement of yet another significant milestone in the project s development." Wael Sawan, Managing Director and Chairman of Qatar Shell, said: "The positive development of the Al-Karaana project clearly indicates the depth of our partnership with the State of Qatar. We are confident the project will help to support the country s energy diversification strategy." The chairman of the project s Executive Committee, Mohammed Nasser Al-Hajri, who is also QP s Downstream Ventures Director, said: "QP and Shell worked closely together to reach this important project milestone. The focus of the project team is on the delivery of a quality FEED that will be a major step towards successfully delivering this project which is an important part of our overall petrochemical development plan. We are delighted to have awarded the integrated FEED contract to Fluor, a world class engineering company with a proven track record and expect Fluor of delivering FEED work of the highest quality and standards in industry." The scope under consideration for the Al-Karaana Petrochemical Complex project includes the following: a world-scale steam cracker, with feedstock coming from natural gas projects in Qatar; a 1.5 million tons per annum mono-ethylene glycol plant using Shell s proprietary OMEGA (Only MEG Advantaged) technology; a 300 thousand tons per annum linear alpha olefin unit using the proprietary Shell Higher Olefins Process; and a 250 thousand tons per annum OXO products. In addition to announcing the awarding of the FEED contract, His Excellency the Minister also unveiled the official logo of the Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex project, giving it a unique identity. The logo consists of two alphabetical letters--"k" and "kaf" which are written in both Arabic and English and combined together to form a drop. This drop not only represents the geographic name "Al-Karaana," which refers to a water well, but also the liquid products that the petrochemicals complex will eventually produce. HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada said that the total cost of the 'Al-Karaana' Petrochemicals plant is estimated at about $ 6.5 billion. Speaking at a press briefing following the ceremony held here today to award the engineering and design contract for the plant to Fluor Corp. and unveil the official logo for the project, HE Dr. Al Sada said QP, Shell joint venture 'Al-Karaana' with 80% stakes held by QP and 20% by Shell, will be operational by 2018. Through the establishment of this project Qatar seeks to promote its growing role in the petrochemical industry on a global level, he said. The project in Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC) would contribute significantly to the development of the national petrochemical industry, in order to achieve diversity in the energy sector, he added. "We are delighted to assist the project taking another step forward," Dr. Al Sada went on saying. For his part, the chairman of the project's Executive Committee, Mohammed Nasser Al-Hajri, also QP's Downstream Ventures Director, said QP and Shell will continue to work towards delivering this important project. He also expressed his delight that the engineering and design contract for this project has been awarded to Fluor Corp, which has an excellent track record in this field. Al-Karaana name refers to one of the oldest city in southern Qatar and pleased both parties as to reflect Shell and Qatar Petroleum intentions to embed their cooperation in Qatar history and long term perspective. The proposed world-class Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Project would support Qatar s strategy to diversify its energy industry and produce cost-competitive products to be marketed worldwide. The scope under consideration includes: A world-scale steam cracker with feedstock from natural gas projects in Qatar; a MEG plant of up to 1.5 million tons per annum; 300 thousand tons per annum of linear alpha olefins; and 250 thousand tons per annum of Oxo unit. (QNA)