The top Petochemicals ME interviews of 2009

Abdulaziz Alhajri, CEO of Borouge
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PME has secured many exclusive interviews with ministers, CEO and GMs of companies across the Middle East and North Africa region during 2009

By bringing you exclusive interviews from the most important industry experts across the region, Petrochemicals Middle East provides an exclusive insight into the mindsets of the sector’s top professionals. These interviews unlock many aspects of the industry, including the feedstock situation, financing, project progress and much, much more. All over the region, high-profile players agree that that the downstream sector is moving here in force.

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Dr Mohammed Yousef Al-Mulla, Qapco GM

Despite the downturn, the general manager of Qapco was in a buoyant mood during March, and took the opportunity to share his thoughts with PME.

The April issue of Petrochemicals Middle East magazine carried an exclusive interview with Dr Mohammed Yousef Al-Mulla, managing director of Qatar Petrochemicals Company (Qapco). The interview tackled several aspects of the industry in Qatar. “Qatar Petroleum has the responsibility for distributing feed gas to various consumers in Qatar, of which we are one,” said Dr Al-Mulla. “The ethane feedstock for Qapco is currently sourced from onshore oil fields, offshore fields and also from the giant north gas field through three NGL plants, NGL-1,2 and NGL4,” he added.

The availability of the ethane feedstock in the region is the main driver for local ethylene producers. “The Middle East industry is still the most economical producer of ethylene and polyethylene in the world, due to the huge benefits available to it as a result of our feed gas cost advantage. However, this massive advantage is shrinking day by day as a result of declining naphtha prices,” Al-Mulla explained.

“However, ethane-based producers will continue to have the upper hand over naphtha producers due to the independence from crude oil prices. Even in the worst case scenario, they have the capacity to survive,” Dr Al-Mulla observed.

The company has no intention of diversifying its product portfolio to focus on ethylene derivative products. “We are a producer of ethylene and polyethylene, and will start the production of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) via a joint venture with Qatofin,” he says. “Polystyrene and polypropylene is not on our agenda for the time being,” he added.

The financial crisis hit the company in the same way as other firms around the globe. “Nobody was immune from it, but when it hit the petrochemical sector we were already planning for it,” said Dr Al-Mulla. “We have a five-year strategy plan for the company, and we know how to manage and adapt to the situation,” he indicated.

While reviving companies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are busy acquiring firms in the Americas and Europe, Qapco clearly remains committed to the local market. “We are a subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum (QP), and, as such, all major investments decisions are based on the guidance from QP,” he reveals.

“For the time being, Qapco has no investments abroad, and is mostly focused on local development. We are also encouraging and supporting the private sector to invest in small, and medium-sized downstream petrochemical projects,” the Qapco managing director explained.

May Issue:

Abdulaziz Alhajri, CEO of Borouge

Abdulaziz Alhajri, CEO of Borouge, says that now is the time for his company to grow

Our May issue included an interview with the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) - the petrochemical arm of ADNOC - Abdulaziz Alhajri. The company is emerging as one the major players in the local market especially due to the revamping of its production capacity to 4.5m t/y by the end of 2013. “Borouge aims to be the clear market leader in the Middle East and Asia in the infrastructure market sector, specifically in pipe systems and wire and cable applications, and a strong player in the automotive and advanced packaging plastics businesses,” Alhajri explained.

Besides the Borouge 2 expansion, which will increase capacity to 2 million t/y and includes the production of polypropylene, the company has started its third expansion project, Borouge 3.

“Recently, we announced the successful completion of a feasibility study and the decision to enter the FEED (front-end engineering and design) stage of the Borouge 3 project, a further commitment to our customers and evidence of the expansion of our operations to meet their growing demands in the next decade,” the Borouge CEO indicated.

Though the majority of gas in Abu Dhabi has a high sour content, making extraction and processing an expensive business, Alhajri is confident that his company will have sufficient gas allocations for its projects. “Of course, we would not be considering a further expansion without a long term feedstock supply,” he said.