عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

QatarEnergy, Chevron Phillips Secure $4.4 Bln Financing for Petrochemicals Project

Ras Laffan Industrial City, north of Qatari capital, Doha. (Getty Images)
Ras Laffan Industrial City, north of Qatari capital, Doha. (Getty Images)
TT
TT

QatarEnergy, Chevron Phillips Secure $4.4 Bln Financing for Petrochemicals Project

Ras Laffan Industrial City, north of Qatari capital, Doha. (Getty Images)
Ras Laffan Industrial City, north of Qatari capital, Doha. (Getty Images)

QatarEnergy and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC announced on Monday that they have secured $4.4 billion financing for the Ras Laffan Petrochemicals project.

QatarEnergy revealed in a press release that the project is a world-scale integrated polymers complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar.

The project financing comprises commercial and Islamic lenders and a group of export credit agencies.

Ras Laffan Petrochemicals is a joint venture company owned 30% by Chevron Phillips Chemical and 70% by QatarEnergy, the statement added.

The project is considered the largest petrochemical project in Qatar for which the Final Investment Decision was announced in January 2023.

“This oversubscribed financing package is an important testament to the financial community’s confidence in Qatar and in its energy and petrochemical industries,” said Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of QatarEnergy Saad bin Sherida al-Kaabi.

Al-Kaabi added: “This large-scale cornerstone investment represents a significant achievement and a major milestone for the Ras Laffan Petrochemicals project - the largest in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world. We are very pleased to enter this exciting stage of this project with our long-time partner Chevron Phillips Chemical.”

The complex, expected to begin production in late 2026, consists of an ethane cracker with a capacity of about 2.1 million tons of ethylene per annum.

It also includes two polyethylene trains with a combined output of 1.7 million tons per annum of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) polymer products, which are used in a wide range of applications, including packaging, construction, and consumer goods.

This complex will raise Qatar’s overall petrochemical production capacity to almost 14 million tons per annum.

The project is expected to generate significant economic benefits for the country, including increased tax revenue and foreign investment.

The two companies signed in January agreements to build the $6 billion complex.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

EBRD: War and Weather Weigh on Economic Growth Again

A man walks past destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes in the Masaken neighborhood on the outskirts of Tyre, Lebanon on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Hassan FNEICH / AFP)
A man walks past destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes in the Masaken neighborhood on the outskirts of Tyre, Lebanon on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Hassan FNEICH / AFP)
TT
TT

EBRD: War and Weather Weigh on Economic Growth Again

A man walks past destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes in the Masaken neighborhood on the outskirts of Tyre, Lebanon on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Hassan FNEICH / AFP)
A man walks past destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes in the Masaken neighborhood on the outskirts of Tyre, Lebanon on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Hassan FNEICH / AFP)

War and extreme weather are weighing on economic growth in countries covered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the bank said in a semi-annual report released on Thursday.

The downward revision to 2.8% GDP growth this year and 3.5% in 2025 is a small change, shaving off 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points respectively. But it is the second downward adjustment for the lender's region, which covers emerging Europe, central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

"Travelling through European cities, I see that the mood is very much down," EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik told Reuters, adding that Europe was grappling with expanding conflicts and high energy costs.

"There is a sense that Europe (is in) some crisis."

While energy prices have moderated since their spike after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Europe's gas prices are five times higher than those in the United States, the report showed.

Stagnating mining output in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon, and severe droughts in Morocco and Tunisia are also clipping growth, it said.

Javorcik said Chinese stimulus measures could boost commodity-exporting EBRD countries, and that trade barriers had led Beijing to pour billions into Hungary, Serbia and Morocco - foreign direct investment that could rise further if global trade policy blocks more imports from China.

But Javorcik said the expanding crisis in the Middle East - with Israel bombing Hezbollah targets in Lebanon - would deepen Lebanon's political and economic crisis.

"It is quite likely that countries that are in proximity to the conflict in the Middle East will see an increase in the risk premium, so their borrowing costs will be higher," she said.

The EBRD also shaved 1.3 percentage points off Ukraine's expected growth in 2025, to 4.7% due to attacks on energy infrastructure, and said they could also cause inflation to accelerate.

"Imported electricity is more expensive, so it increases the cost. Moreover, there are blackouts, rolling blackouts... That's going to be detrimental for energy-intensive industries."

In Russia, though, the EBRD said growth of 4.7% outpaced expectations in the first half of 2024, driven in part by oil export prices that increased by more than 10% year-on-year.

EBRD analysis showed that the discount that importers paid for Russian oil, which once stood at $20 per barrel, had disappeared, casting doubt on the effectiveness of Western price caps.

"Sanctions are working but they are working slowly," Javorcik said. "It's an effect that is cumulative... and it is going to be slowing down Russia's productivity."