Middle East Petrochemicals: Significant Developments in 2001 and Implications.The following are excerpts from a presentation By Larry Lar´ryn. 1. Same as Lorry, or Lorrie. Wheeler, a Houston-based petrochemicals consultant, to the 15th Annual APS Conference, which has been postponed from Sept. 22-24, 2001, to Feb. 16-18, 2002. The conference will be held in Tehran Tehran or Teheran (both: tā'ərän`, –răn`), city (1991 pop. 6,475,527), capital of Iran and Tehran prov., N Iran, near Mt. Damavand. . Until 1999, Mr. Wheeler was president of Shell Chemicals Arabia Arabia (ərā`bēə), peninsula (1991 est. pop. 35,000,000), c.1,000,000 sq mi (2,590,000 sq km), SW Asia. It is bordered on the W by the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, on the S by the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, on the E by the .
Middle East & North Africa (MENA)
2001 Capacities for Key Commodity Petrochemicals
Product Capacity
Million Tons/Year Share of World Capacity
Ethylene 9.2 9%
Polyethylene 4.9 8%
Polypropylene 1.9 5%
Urea 10.3 10%
Methanol 7.2 22%
Number of Operating MENA MENA Middle East & North Africa MENA Middle East News Agency (Arabic Wikalat Al-Anbaa' Al-Sharq Al-'awsat) MENA Medium-Energy Neutral Atom MENA Mammalian Enabled MENA Mission Element Need Analysis Ventures for all Petrochemicals = 61 >TE
SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MENA PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY - 2001
* The Saudi Gas Initiative and its petrochemical components.
* Progress towards implementation of Iran's long-term expansion plans.
* Further development of large, private sector projects in Saudi Arabia &
Egypt.
* Announcements of new ethylene & derivatives projects in Qatar & Kuwait.
* SABIC's move to become a global producer of petrochemicals.
* The deepening petrochemical industry downturn and negative short0term growth.
The Saudi Gas Initiative, especially, can have a significant impact on the
petrochemical industry in the region.
SAUDI GAS INITIATIVE - PETROCHEMICAL petrochemical, any one of a large group of chemicals derived from a component of petroleum or natural gas. The cracking processes for manufacturing gasoline produce vast quantities of gaseous hydrocarbons. ELEMENTS
Venture Ownership Products Location/Date
Core Venture 1 ExxonMobil 35% Ethylene & Derivatives Jubail 2006
Shell 25%
BP 25%
Phillips 15%
Core Venture 1 Same Ethylene & Derivatives Yanbu 2006
Core Venture 2 ExxonMobil 60% Ethylene & Derivatives Yanbu 2006
Occidental 20%
Marathon 20%
Core Venture 3 Shell 40% Ethylene & Derivatives Jubail 2006
TotalFinaElf 30%
Conoco 30%
Preliminary Agreements were recently signed by the Saudi Government with three consortia of international oil companies for development of the Kingdom's natural gas resources. As shown on the chart, the Agreements envision four, ethane-based, world scale petrochemical complexes, two at Jubail Jubail (Arabic: "الجبيل" Al Jubayl), is a city in the Eastern province on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. Its full name is Madīnat al Jubayl aş Şinā`īyah (Jubail Industrial City). and two at Yanbu Yanbu' al Bahr (Arabic: ينبع "spring by the sea"), also known simply as Yanbu, Yambo, or Yenbo, is a major Red Sea port in the Al Madinah province of western Saudi Arabia. , all producing ethylene ethylene (ĕth`əlēn') or ethene (ĕth`ēn), H2C=CH2, a gaseous unsaturated hydrocarbon. It is the simplest alkene. and/or ethylene derivatives derivatives In finance, contracts whose value is derived from another asset, which can include stocks, bonds, currencies, interest rates, commodities, and related indexes. Purchasers of derivatives are essentially wagering on the future performance of that asset. . These projects are now being more fully defined, but stated expectations are that they will be in operation by about 2006. They may or may not involve SABIC SABIC Saudi Basic Industries Corporation SABIC Sample-Band Image Coding (currency counterfeit deterrence technique) . It is very possible that Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia, is the largest oil corporation in the world and the world's largest in terms of proven crude oil reserves and production. could position itself as a partner in these ventures, bringing it into a more complex relationship with SABIC as both a raw material supplier and a competitor. A major concern is that these projects don't appear to be driven by market demand and, if not properly phased, could have a significant negative effect on regional supply/demand balances and product pricing. There are a number of issues besides timing to be resolved. These include the prices that the investors will receive for the natural gas and natural gas liquids they produce and the prices that will be charged to the petrochemical ventures for these materials as feedstocks. It will most likely be difficult to arrive at pricing that is high enough to make the gas development investments profitable, yet low enough to make the petrochemical investments profitable. Due to the complexity of these ventures and the many difficult issues to be resolved, there is a high likelihood of delay. Another key development of the past year has been the continuing progress made by the National Petrochemical Company of Iran in advancing its long-term Long-term Three or more years. In the context of accounting, more than 1 year. long-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss in the value of a security that has been held over a specific length of time. Compare short-term. expansion agenda.
HIGHLIGHTS OF NATIONAL PETROCHEMICAL CO. OF IRAN EXPANSION PROGRAMME, 2002-2005
Product Project Total New Capacity
Million Tons/Year
Ethylene Olefins 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 6.3
Polyethylene Olefins 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 3.0
Urea Bandar Imam,
Bandar Assaluyah,
Qeshm Island,
Kermanshah 3.1
Methanol Methanol 3 & 4 2.8
As shown on the chart, expansion plans include five ethylene and derivatives projects as well as significant urea and methanol methanol, methyl alcohol, or wood alcohol, CH3OH, a colorless, flammable liquid that is miscible with water in all proportions. Methanol is a monohydric alcohol. It melts at −97. expansions, all to stream within the 2002-2005 time period. The Iranian Oil Minister, Mr. Zangeneh, has stated that Iran needs about $4.5 billion of fresh investment to carry out these plans. Many of these projects involve foreign investors and there is concern that the recent rejection by the Guardian Council The Guardian Council of the Constitution[1] (Persian: شورای نگهبان قانون اساسی) is the upper chamber within the constitution of the Islamic of the new foreign investment regulations, earlier approved by the Majlis Majlis (مجلس) is an Arabic term meaning "a place of sitting" used to describe various types of formal legislative assemblies in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to Islamic countries. , could delay the implementation schedule. The private sector in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (sä  `dē ərā`bēə, sou`–, sô–), officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, kingdom (2005 est. pop. and also in
Egypt has shown the ambition and the ability to carry out mega-projects,
previously the exclusive domain of government-owned chemical companies.
PRIVATE SECTOR MEGA-PROJECTS UNDER DEVELOPMENT
Ownership Products Estimated Cost Status
Saudi International Methanol $700 million Technologies
Selected.
Petrochemical Company Acetic Acid Contractor Selected.
& Partners Vinyl Acetate Financing Arranged.
Maleic Anhydride 2003-2004 Startup.
1,4 Butane Diol
National Petrochemical Propylene $550 million Technologies
Selected.
Industrialisation Polypropylene Contractor Selected.
Company and Basell Developing Financing.
(Saudi Arabia) 2003 Startup.
Alujain & Partners Iso-Octane $425 million Technology Selected.
(Saudi Arabia) Developing Financing.
2004 Startup.
TAAS Group (Egypt) Ethylene $900 million Announced.
Propylene 2004 Startup.
Butylenes
As shown on the chart, the Saudi International Petrochemical Company, the National Petrochemical Industrialization industrialization Process of converting to a socioeconomic order in which industry is dominant. The changes that took place in Britain during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th century led the way for the early industrializing nations of western Europe and Company, the Alujain Group, and the TAAS n. 1. A heap. See Tas. Group in Egypt are all involved in projects in the $400-900 million range, to stream in 2002-2004. The first mega-project of this type, the Saudi Chevron Petrochemical Company, was successfully streamed last year. These ventures are typically syndicates of many private investors in partnership with foreign technology suppliers who also invest in the projects. The ventures purchase their feedstocks from the national oil companies and also benefit from access to Government-sponsored, low cost financing, such as that provided by the Saudi Industrial Development Fund.
NEW PETROCHEMICAL PROJECTS ANNOUNCED IN QATAR & KUWAIT
Project Ownership Products On-Stream
Capacities KT/Yr
QCHEM II Qatar Petroleum Co. Ethylene 1200 2006
Chevron Phillips Polyethylene 750
EQUATE II PIC of Kuwait Ethylene 850 2005
Unnamed Partner Polyethylene 450
Ethylene Grycol 650
Aromatics PIC of Kuwait P-Xylene 670 2005
Benzene 380
Styrene 500
The government-owned Qatar Petroleum Qatar Petroleum (QP) is a state owned petroleum company in Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. Company and the Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait recently announced major new ethylene complexes, Q-Chem II and Equate II, based on offshore gas reserves. These projects would double the production of ethylene and derivatives in the two countries. QCHEM II will have the same ownership as QCHEM I, with Qatar Petroleum Company and Chevron Phillips Chevron Phillips is a chemical producer jointly owned by Chevron Corporation and ConocoPhillips. The company was formed July 1st, 2000 by merging the chemicals operations of both Chevron Corporation and Phillips Petroleum Company. Chemical Company as partners. EQUATE II will be a joint venture, but the foreign partner has not yet been selected. The Kuwaitis also announced a major aromatics project, based on naphtha naphtha (năp`thə, năf`–), term usually restricted to a class of colorless, volatile, flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixtures. feedstocks from local refineries. This will be a wholly owned venture. These projects would all stream in 2005-2006. SABIC also has a new ethylene and derivatives complex under development, the Jubail United Petrochemical Company to stream in 2004, but its ambitions go beyond continued expansion of its diverse Saudi manufacturing base. |
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