VIETNAM: Qatar Petroleum plans withdrawal from Long Son pc project

Qatar Petroleum (QP), as part of a restructuring program, has announced plans to withdraw from the joint venture Long Son petrochemical complex in Vietnam, according to a Vietnamese business report.

Located in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, the complex, with an estimated cost of USD4.5-billion, involves a 1.4-million t/y olefins cracker to feed downstream production of 2.7-million t/y of polyethylene and polypropylene. Operations are expected to begin in 2018.

The project is a joint venture owned 25% by QP, 46% by Siam Cement Group and 29% by PetroVietnam. The investors met recently to arrange for the transfer of QP’s stake but failed to reach an agreement. Vietnam’s trade industry is expected to ask its counterpart in Qatar for help in resolving the problem, the report said.

QP President and Chief Executive Saad Sherida AlKaabi, in a notice on the company’s website discussing QP’s reorganization, said: “While we have no control over markets and prices, we do have control over our cost and expenditure. . . . We now have total company focus on core business and are exiting any non-core business activities.”

Source: Weekly “PetroChemical News”, Durham, NC, USA; 9 Nov 2015
Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)