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Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco) is set to complete two major projects in as many years as part of its nearly QR600mn initiative to minimise emissions and safeguard the environment.
With these projects, Qapco aims a significant reduction in nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions to the air.
Speaking to Gulf Times yesterday, Qapco vice-chairman and CEO Dr Mohamed Yousef al-Mulla said the company was currently replacing its power generation facility and old furnaces that were set up in the Mesaieed plant in the 1970s and 90s.
“With new technology coming in, we will be able to improve our performance with relation to environment protection. Already we are well within the limits set by the Ministry of Environment,” al-Mulla said.
He said the projects would be executed during 2014 (when a general shutdown has been planned) and in 2015.
Al-Mulla said Qapco was also investing heavily on “risk mitigation” relating to the IT technology.
“Risks today are not just in the area of environment or general safety. Risks are posed by hackers and combating them is top on our priority. We are executing a project worth QR120mn in this regard,” the Qapco CEO said.
The company is also spending considerable amount on a seawater discharge project.
Al-Mulla highlighted Qapco’s commitment to improve energy efficiency.
“We have been in operation for more than 40 years now. We continuously invest in modernising and upgrading our facilities, adopting the latest and most sophisticated technologies and monitoring systems to optimise our energy consumption, while reducing our environmental footprint. Our latest facility for instance, the LDPE 3 plant uses the latest technology to improve production efficiency while increasing the overall production capacity,” he said.
Set up in 1974 as a joint multinational venture to utilise the associated and non-associated ethane gases from petroleum production, Qapco has grown as one of the largest producers of low-density polyethylene in the Middle East. The company produces a wide range of LDPE grades suitable to all thermoplastics processing techniques with various applications such as packaging films, agricultural films, extrusion and coating lamination films, high-clarity films, injection moulding, cables, wires, foam and other products that are widely used all over the world.
Petrochemical complex ‘on track for 2018 completion’
The development of the multi-billion-dollar mega petrochemical complex at Ras Laffan is progressing as planned, said Qapco vice-chairman and CEO Dr Mohamed Yousef al-Mulla. “This project is already as planned and is scheduled for completion in 2018,” al-Mulla told Gulf Times yesterday.
The complex includes a world-scale steam cracker, with the feedstock coming from natural gas plants in Ras Laffan.
Qatar Petroleum (QP) has an 80% equity interest in the project, with Qapco taking up the remaining 20% stake. QP and Qapco are jointly developing the petrochemical complex. The world-scale project will contribute in meeting the continuously growing global demand for various petrochemical products.
