Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Royal Dutch Shell signed a preliminary agreement to construct a US$6 billion petrochemical plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar.
Under the memorandum of understanding, the companies will jointly build a 1.5 million tonnes a year mono-ethylene glycol, or MEG, plant using Shell's proprietary OMEGA technology. Also under consideration were other olefin derivatives that would yield over 2 million tonnes of finished products, according to statement by Shell.
Qatar's energy minister Abdullah Al Attiyah said the project was being "fast-tracked" to come on stream before the start of major construction works for the 2022 World Cup. "After the Front End Engineering Design (FEED), we go immediately for tendering," Ben Van Beurden, Executive Vice President, Chemicals at Shell said.
A heads of agreement between the two companies would likely be signed in March 2011, after which FEED works would begin and could last 18 to 24 months to complete. The plant is expected to be completed around 2016 to 2017.
