QATAR - New Projects.

QP has been studying two projects for Mesaieed to complement Qapco's production: (1) a 100,000 t/y toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) plant, to cost $250m; and (2) 250,000 t/y propane dehydrogenation and PP plants as a JV of QP and Atofina.

The Qatar Fuel Additives Co. (Qafac) in mid-1999 began production of methanol and MTBE from a $700m plant at Mesaieed, on stream ahead of schedule. It can produce 825,000 t/y of methanol and 610,000 t/y of MTBE, using methane and butane as feedstocks. This is owned 50% by QP, 20% by Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) and 15% by each of Lee Chang Yung Chemical Industry of Taiwan and International Octane of Canada. The foreign partners are committed to lift the output, mostly marketed in Taiwan.

A $800m expansion - Qafac-II - is under way at Mesaieed. An EPC contract award is due by end-2005. This calls for installation of a 6,750 t/d of methanol unit and a plant with a capacity of 1,000 t/d of ammonia. The front-end engineering and design (FEED) contractor is Mustang Tampa of the US. Lurgi of Germany is the technology supplier for the methanol train. Qafac is to set up a separate JV company, known as Qafac-II, to implement the expansion. The shareholders in Qafac and Qafac-II will be identical.

Qatar Industrial Gases Co. (QIGC) is to have plants built at Mesaieed and Ras Laffan to produce industrial gases. In July 2005 QP signed the JV agreement on this with Qatar Nitrogen Co. (QNC) and Air Liquide Middle East, part of Paris-based Air Liquide. The Mesaieed plant will supply 200 t/d of oxygen and nitrogen to serve industrial users. The Ras Laffan plant will supply nitrogen. The gases will be piped to consumers. The plants will be on stream by early 2007. QP and QNC will hold 60%. Air Liquide will hold 40%.

In July QIGC signed a letter of intent to supply Qatar Steel Co. (Qasco) with oxygen. Qasco is to have new high performance steel furnaces built using oxygen injection. The furnaces will need up to 170 t/d of oxygen, to be supplied by QIGC from 2007.