KUWAIT CITY : EQUATE Petrochemical Company announced on Monday July 7, 2008, taking over the first process unit of the Olefins II Kuwait Program (OL2K). At an official ceremony, EQUTE Management Team (EMT), the OL2K Program and the unit project team celebrated the signing of the Notice of Mechanical Completion Acceptance for the new Ethylene Glycol 2 (EG-2) production plant The project was handed over by OL2K EG-2 Project Manager Thomas Roovers to EQUATE EG Unit Production Leader Arif Al-Qattan. The EG-2 unit is a critical part of the OL2K Program, also known as the expansion of EQUATE. The capacity of the unit is 600,000 metric tons annually (MTA) of EG. Upon startup, EQUATE's total EG production will reach about 1.15 million MTA.
The contractors, Fluor Corporation as program management contractor (PMC), Foster-Wheeler as construction manager, and Kharafi National for construction, have completed the project on schedule and under budget. The EG-2 project construction commenced in July 2006 with the participation of over 2000 engineers and construction workers. This milestone was achieved with over 6 million safe-work hours without any loss time incidents. Commissioning activities for EG-2 have begun and the unit is expected to be on-line during July 2008. MEGlobal, EQUATE's sole EG distributor, will market all production from this unit in addition to their current EG volume and will be directing these sales throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.
EQUATE Petrochemical Company said here Monday it had received the Ethylene Glycol 2 Factory from the Olefins II Project administration in Kuwait. The new plant, which is a pivotal part of the Olefins II Project, comes within the context of the EQUATE's expansion blueprint, the company said in a news release.
The plant has an annual production capacity of 600,000 metric tons. But, once the factory begins full operation, overall ethylene glycol production will go up to 1.15 million metric tons per annum, it said.
Construction works for the plant began in July 2006 with the participation of over 2,000 engineers and workers, it added.
The project is expected to kick-start production in July, according to the release.
ME Global Inc. will undertake the promotion of the new factory's production.
© Arab Times 2008
