06 August 2010
BEIRUT: Qatar’s deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah inaugurated on Thursday QAPCO’s logistic Services Establishment in the Tripoli Free zone.
Minister of Public Works and Transport Ghazi Aridi, Tripoli deputies and senior officials also attended the opening ceremony.
QAPCO’s general manager Mohammad Youssif said the facility is very important for both Lebanon and Tripoli.
The facility will provide QAPCO’s products to the entire Lebanese market and once Tripoli ports expand in the future the firm will double its exports to the market.
The products include ethane gas and natural liquid gas.
The company exports nearly 20,000 tons of ethane gas and other chemical products to Lebanon each year.
Officials said that the new facility will also export the company’s products to other countries in the region.
Attiyah expressed his admiration of the facility and said the opening was due to the strong political and economic ties between Qatar and Lebanon.
QAPCO was established in 1974 as a joint multinational venture to utilize the associated and non-associated ethane gas from petroleum production in line with the industrialization plan of Qatar.
It is one of the companies located in the Mesaieed Industrial City (MIC), producing fertilizers, steel, refined petroleum products and natural gas liquids.
The new QAPCO plant is situated on the seacoast and exports its entire range of products worldwide.
QAPCO commenced commercial production in 1981 and within a short time, was well-established in the global market due to its quality and reliability.
The main products of the company are Ethylene and LDPE. Solid sulphur is generated as a by-product in the process. The required feedstock, ethane gas, is supplied by the state-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP) for the production of ethylene, a significant part of which is then used in the production of various grades of LDPE, marketed under the ‘LOTRENE’ brand name.
The manufacturing facilities consist of an ethylene plant with a designed annual capacity of 720,000 metric tons, two LDPE plants with a total annual capacity of 360,000 MT and a sulphur plant with an annual rated capacity of 70,000 MT besides the self-sufficient utilities, plants and other offsite and auxiliary facilities. – The Daily Star
Copyright The Daily Star 2010.
