Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil Chemical announce plans for worldscale facility in Qatar

Qatar Petroleum (QP) and ExxonMobil Chemical have announced an agreement to build a petrochemical complex in Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, which would reportedly include the world’s largest steam cracker and specialty polyethylene plants. Announced by QP Chairman Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, and ExxonMobil Chemical President Steve Pryor at a signing ceremony in Doha, the deal would also include one of the largest ethylene glycol plants in the world. Saying the project is another example of the state’s plan for the “optimal utilization of the country’s natural resources,” Al-Attiyah said this is just one of Qatar’s “ambitious programs to utilize and develop its hydrocarbon resources.”

Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have worked together on the project, which will use ExxonMobil’s proprietary technology. With a tentative start-up of late 2015, the proposed petrochemical complex would include a 1.6-million-tonnes/yr steam cracker; two 650,0000-tonnes/yr gas-phase polyethylene plants; and a 700,000-tonnes/yr ethylene glycol plant. The project will employ ExxonMobil’s proprietary steam cracking and polyethylene process and utilize feedstock from gas-development projects in Qatar’s North Field, which is the largest non-associated gas field in the world. Much of the output will focus on the growing Asias markets, according to the firms.

ExxonMobil’s proprietary steam cracking furnace technology reportedly boosts ethylene yield, allows greater feedstock flexibility, reduces energy consumption, and extends time periods between maintenance. ExxonMobil’s olefins plants throughout the world utilize the technology, and it is available for licensing as part of the SCORE ethylene process.

The title of “the world’s largest steam cracker” remains disputed. In 2005, Qatar Petroleum, ChevronPhillips Chemical Co. LLC, Qatar Petrochemical Co., and Total Petrochemicals installed a 1.3-million-tonnes/yr ethane steam cracker also located at Ras Laffan. Iran’s National Petroleum Co. (NPC) also claims the title of the world’s largest steam cracker, with a unit at the 10th Olefin Complex in Assaluyeh that has annual ethylene capacity of 1.4 million tonnes/yr. BASF Corp. and Total Petrochemicals USA Inc. claim their $1 billion, 60/40-venture steam cracker in Port Arthur, TX is the world’s largest, with annual production of 860,000 tonnes of ethylene and 860,000 tonnes of propylene.

Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil are currently working together to diversify the use of Qatar’s North Field gas including the expansion of facilities to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) resources to targeted markets, and the supply of pipeline gas to domestic customers. Qatar’s capacity of more than 31 million tonnes/yr makes it the world’s largest producer of LNG. In 2010, Qatar is expected to account for one-third of the world’s LNG supply. — Tony Deligio