DOHA: QatarEnergy and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC (CPChem) on Monday announced that they have secured $4.4bn financing for the Ras Laffan Petrochemicals Project, a world-scale integrated polymers complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar.
The senior debt financing package is comprised of commercial and Islamic facilities as well as Export Credit Agency (ECA) financing.
The Ras Laffan Petrochemicals project is a joint venture between QatarEnergy (70 percent) and CPChem (30 percent) and is considered the largest petrochemical project in Qatar for which Final Investment Decision was announced in January 2023.
In remarks on this occasion, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, and the President and CEO of QatarEnergy HE Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, said: "This oversubscribed financing package is an important testament to the financial community's confidence in Qatar and in its energy and petrochemical industries."
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 tonnes of ethylene per annum. It also includes two polyethene trains with a combined output of 1.7 million tonnes 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 tonnes per annum.
The project is expected to generate significant economic benefits for the country, including increased tax revenue and foreign investment.