CPChem, QatarEnergy let contract for Ras Laffan petrochemical complex

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LLC (CPChem)—a joint venture of Chevron Corp. and Phillips 66—and QatarEnergy are moving forward with a previously announced plan to jointly build and operate the proposed Ras Laffan petrochemical project (RLPP) in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar (OGJ Online, June 24, 2019).

The joint venture awarded a lump-sum contract to Consolidated Contractors Co. (CCC) for delivery of early site-preparation works on the grassroots complex, which will house a 2.08-million tonne/year (tpy) ethane cracking unit—to become the Middle East’s largest—as well as two high-density polyethylene (HDPE) units, QP said in a release.

Scheduled to begin this month, CCC’s scope of work marks the official start of RLPP’s execution phase. The plant will increase Qatar’s polyethylene output capacity by about 64%, said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, QatarEnergy’s president and chief executive officer.

With front-end engineering and design for RLPP completed in 2021, and tendering for the project’s engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) phase currently under way, QatarEnergy said it expects the partnership to take final investment decision (FID) and award an EPC contract sometime after conclusion of CCC’s early site works.

While the operator did not disclose a definitive timeline for early works, FID, or EPC, QatarEnergy said it anticipates the RLPP to begin commercial production in 2026.

First revealed in mid-2019, the proposed RLPP was originally to house a 1.9-million tpy ethane cracker and two HDPE derivative units with a combined capacity of 1.68 million tpy.