Petrochemicals

Shell halts US$6.5billion Qatar petrochemical project as oil prices fall

January 14, 2015 | Middle East, Petrochemicals

The joint venture between the Anglo-Dutch energy giant and state-owned Qatar Petroleum had been signed in December 2011. Doha, Qatar | – Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell have scrapped plans for a petrochemicals project, worth an estimated US$6.5 billion, due to the slump in global oil prices. In a statement issued on Wednesday (Jan 14), Shell said the Al Karaana project would not go ahead because of the “high envisaged capital cost that has rendered it commercially unfeasible, particularly in the current economic climate …

GTL in Focus: Sasol and Shell explore new markets

December 11, 2013 | Investment Development, Petrochemicals

By Richard Nield – The success of Qatar’s Oryx GTL and Pearl GTL projects has led to a renewed interest in gas-to-liquid (GTL) investments, and the companies behind these plants – Sasol of South Africa and the UK/Dutch Shell Group – are now eyeing new opportunities in markets much further afield. Production of GTL fuel is nothing new. It dates back to the 1920s, when two German scientists, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, developed a means of making synthetic liquid fuel from the country’s coal …

South Africa’s Sasol seeks cash for $7billion Louisiana plant

September 16, 2013 | Budget & Investment, Petrochemicals, United States & Canada

Johannesburg – South Africa’s petrochemical giant, Sasol is seeking project finance and loans, and may also sell bonds in the US, to fund a petrochemical plant in Louisiana costing as much as $7 billion, the chief executive officer said. Sasol needs to raise $5 billion to $7 billion to build a cracker near Lake Charles, Louisiana, which will convert ethane natural gas to ethylene, used to produce raw materials for goods such as paint and detergents, and start up in 2017, chief executive David Constable …

Sasol’s chief financial officer & executive director to step down

August 26, 2013 | People on the move, Petrochemicals

Johannesburg – South African Petrochemicals Company, Sasol Ltd said on Monday its chief financial officer and executive director will step down next month after seven years with the company. Christine Ramon’s last day at Sasol will be on September 9, when the company releases its full-year results, Sasol said. “Christine joined Sasol in 2006, and has been a key member of the group executive committee and the Sasol Limited Board throughout her tenure. Over her 7-year career at the company, Christine has been part of …

South Africa’s Sasol exits Iran

August 19, 2013 | Mergers, Acquisitions & JVs, Petrochemicals

Cape Town – South Africa’s petrochemical company Sasol has sold its stake in an Iranian polymer company – Arya Sasol Polymer joint venture and now has no business dealings in Iran at all. Sasol sold its 50% stake in Arya Sasol Polymer to Main Street 1095, the South African subsidiary of an Iranian investor. The director of the company is Hamidreza Eskandani. The other 50% is owned by Iran’s state-owned National Petrochemical Company. In July 2012 the US government extended its sanctions on Iran to …

Qatar to build $5.5 billion petrochemical plant

February 13, 2012 | Budget & Investment, Petrochemicals

Qatar will build a $5.5 billion petrochemical plant in the northern industrial city of Ras Laffanby 2018, as the Gulf state steps up investment to utilize its huge gas reserves. State-controlled Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Petrochemical Co., or Qapco, signed an agreement Monday to build an ethane and butane cracker that will produce 1.4 million tons a year of ethylene which, along with other products such as polyethylene, will be marketed abroad, Qatar’s oil minister Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada said. “The complex will produce …

Samsung Engineering wins $230 million order from India

June 29, 2011 | Asia, Petrochemicals

South Korea’s largest industrial plant builder Samsung Engineering Co today won a USD 230 million order to build a petrochemical plant in Western India, reports said. Under the deal with ONGC Petro-additions Ltd — a unit of India’s state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) — Samsung Engineering will complete the plant with an annual production capacity of 340,000 tonnes of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) by July, 2013, a Yonhap report said quoting the company. HDPE is a raw material used for industrial film, pipes and …