EGYPT - The Ameriya Complex.

The first phase of EPC's petrochemical complex at Ameriya came on stream in early 1986. A $700m second phase involving public sector banks and insurance firms as partners of EPC came on stream in 2000. The first phase has the following plants:

A modern 100,000 t/y polyvinyl chloride (PVC) unit brought on stream in mid-1999 to replace an 80,000 t/y plant.

A 100,000 t/y vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) unit, which was expanded in mid-1999.

A unit to produce 126,000 t/y chlorine and caustic soda.

An 82,000 t/y sodium hydroxide unit added to the complex in 1992.

The first PVC plant was built by Technipetrol. The others were built by Toyo Engineering. Asahi Chemicals provided technology for the VCM unit. A 66,000 t/y caustic soda unit was added to the chlorine plant in late 1987. The capacity of the chlorine plant has since been expanded to 75,000 t/y. PVC is used for a wide range of industrial applications. Local demand for PVC has risen rapidly.

Phase II started up in mid-2000 for Sidi Krier Petrochemical Co. (Sidpec). It has Egypt's first ethylene cracker with a 300,000 t/y capacity, taking its feedstocks from a 550 MCF/d Gasco gas processing plant which came on stream in mid-2000 at Ameriya with a capacity of 470,000 t/y of ethane/propane mix, 220,000 t/y of butane and 215,000 t/y of condensate. Sidpec's downstream units fed by ethylene consist of a 250,000 t/y linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant; a 150,000 t/y high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit; and a 10,000 t/y butene-1 plant. (LLDPE and HDPE have wide use in Egypt, including the agricultural and irrigation sectors). The cracker also sells ethylene to the PVC unit of the Phase I plants. The other Sidpec plants use LPG from Gasco's facility, with Ameriya having become more than self-sufficient in feedstocks. Until mid-2000, EPC imported all its raw materials, including 50,000 t/y of liquid ethylene. Sidpec in 2001 became Egypt's first petrochemical exporter, having sent out polyethylene.

Toyo Engineering installed the cracker under a $230m contract. The cracker uses the Short Residence Time (SRT) process of ABB Lummus Global of the US, which did the FEED work. The LLDPE/HDPE and butene-1 plants were built by Samsung of South Korea under a $250m contract. The butane-1 plant uses the gas-phase Innovene technology from BP Chemicals (which also provided the licence for the LLDPE unit) and Alphabutol process from Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP).

Sidpec was formed in 1997 under Law 8 of 1997, which provides special incentives to industries badly needed for import-substitution and projects depending on gas. Sidpec's shareholders include EPC, National Bank of Egypt, Banque du Caire, Bank of Alexandria, Nasser Social Bank and Commercial International Investment Co., as well as insurance companies and investment funds. Its project, first proposed in the early 1990s, was delayed due to lack of money. Initially it was set to be on stream in 1998 with a smaller capacity.

EPC has an offshore terminal - the first of its kind in the world - built in 1986 at Dakheila Bay (off Alexandria) by Technipetrol to handle liquid ethylene imports which stopped in mid-2000. The terminal has a 2,200-ton integrated "Unideck" with three 7,000 m3 storage tanks for liquid ethylene. It can handle ships of up to 8,000 dwt, and has an ethylene regasification plant linked to Ameriya by pipeline.

Misr Chemical Industries Co. (MCI) has a plant in Alexandria on stream since the early 1980s producing sodium carbonate. Its capacity was in 1989 doubled to 200,000 t/y for local consumption. MCI upgraded it in 1997 through a 56,000 t/y chloralkali unit, using modern membrane technology, and a decontamination of its system.

Alexandria Carbon Black Co. was set up in 1992 to produce 20,000 t/y of carbon black, the main ingredient in vehicle tyres. The plant, built in 1995 by Davy Powergas India under a $38-40m contract, uses the Witco process. The Aditya Vikram Birla Group of India holds 51% through its companies Indo-Bharat (36%) and Grasim Industries (15%). The Egyptian state-owned Chemical Industries Holding Co.(CIHC), which has cement and chemical plants in the country, has the other 49%.

A 4,500 t/y polypropylene granules plant built by Tecnimont (Montedison) came on stream near Cairo in 1987. It uses a process developed by Moplefan (Montedison).

Chloride Egypt, producing batteries, has been controlled since early 1997 by Moroccan business tycoon Miloud Chaabi. In 1996 Chaabi was one of the biggest private buyers of shares in Egyptian companies privatised by the government.

Paints & Chemical Industries Co. (Pachin), Egypt's leading maker of inks, paints and chemicals, was privatised in late 1998 - with a 38.2% stake sold by the state's Chemical Industries Co. to UK-based Gryphon Emerging Markets whose founders include Cairo investment banker Hani Tewfiq. Pachin's five-plant production was consolidated in 2001 into one complex in Obour City, an industrial zone outside Cairo where Pachin got a 10-year tax break from the first day the complex started up. Pachin has 40% of the local market. It is trying to penetrate the European markets. (Pachin, set up in 1958 as a private firm, was nationalised in 1961). CIHC said in early 2003 an unidentified Dutch company had expressed interest in buying its remaining 39.75% interest in Pachin.

Misr Rayon Co. is the only polyester producer in Egypt. But its plant, built with French technology in the 1940s, is small and local demand is high. In Feb. 1999, Fluor was contracted by EPC to study the feasibility of producing aromatics, purified terephthalic acid (PTA), polyester and other items. But at the same time two private ventures launched rival projects to produce polyester (see below).

Egyptian Arabian Petrochemical Co. (Petropoly) has Egypt's first polystyrene plant built in the Alexandria oil refining complex and on stream since 2002 with a capacity of 100,000 t/y. Local demand for polystyrene has grown rapidly, rising from 51,000 t/y in 1995 to more than 100,000 t/y by 2003. The plant takes its ethylene feedstock from Sidpec and benzene from the refinery. UOP of the US provided the styrene production licence, and Petropoly uses the Lummus/UOP Smart Styrene Monomer process. The core investor in Petropoly is Petrefin Int'l Group (PIG), a Swiss-based JV headed by Egyptian engineer Maher Abusenna who has 34 years' experience in the oil and gas business. PIG holds 30% in Petropoly. The partners include Suez Canal Bank and National Insurance Co.

Shorouk Group and LG Group of South Korea have a PVC plant built as a JV. Shorouk, which in early 1999 acquired the plastics business of Al Sharif Group, is headed by Alaa El-Sayyed, one of the Egyptian business tycoons close to President Mubarak.