Middle East will be pivotal for global petrochem industry
11 Mar '06
3 min read
Chemical Week and SRIC business units of Access Intelligence, hosted their first annual Middle East Petrochemicals Outlook Conference on February 21-22, 2006 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Dubai.
Industry leaders from around the world discussed the continuing shift of petrochemicals production from established bases in Europe and the US to the Middle East, where 50 percent of planned global ethylene capacity will be built. Product is destined for fast-growing markets in China and Asia, where competition will be fierce in the coming years.
"We were delighted with the outcome of this important event, which took place at a critical moment for global petrochemicals supply and demand," John Pearson, Divisional President, AI, said. "The Middle East will become pivotal in global chemicals trade and the location of many exciting new projects, sponsored by regional governments as well as the private sector."
Hamad Rashid Al-Mohannadi, vice chairman of the board of directors and manager of Qatar Petrochemical Co. (Doha), said in an opening keynote speech that Qatar, owner of the world's largest gas field, has an aggressive investment program in petrochemicals and will be the world's future petrochemical hub.
Qatar's ethylene capacity will rise to 2.5 million metric tons/year by the end of 2008, and to more than 6 million metric tons/year when separate joint ventures with ExxonMobil, Honam Petrochemical, and Shell come on line at the beginning of the next decade, he said.
marketing@alchempro.com
