Page 24 - Plastics News May 2017

COMPANY NEWS

Reliance commissions world’s largest and most complex Ethane

Project in record time

eliance has completed its Ethane Project, including based on market conditions. This will improve the cost
Rcommissioning of its ethane receipt & handling competitiveness of our existing crackers and enable us to
facilities and ethane cracking, at its Dahej Manufacturing optimize the portfolio in a volatile market environment.
Facility in Gujarat in a world record time of less than Bechtel bags contracts by Carbon Holdings for petrochemical
three years. Reliance is the first company to globally projects in Egypt Bechtel, a global leader in engineering,
conceptualize large-scale imports of ethane from North procurement, and construction, has been awarded two
America as feedstock for its cracker portfolio in India. contracts by Carbon Holdings of Egypt to deliver major
According to the company release the project involved petrochemical projects in Egypt. The contracts are to
seamless integration of several elements across a complex provide project management services for the Tahrir
infrastructure value chain. This includes securing ethane Petrochemicals Complex at Ain Sokhna, Egypt; and to build
refrigeration capacity in the US Gulf coast; delivery of two new polypropylene units at an adjacent site. In its
dedicated Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) to carry
ethane from the US Gulf Coast to the West Coast of India; project management role, Bechtel will have oversight of
construction of ethane receipt and handling facilities; project execution and contractor performance on what will
be the largest petrochemicals complex in Egypt. Bechtel
will also design, build and procure all the equipment and
materials for the polypropylene production expansion at
the complex's existing Oriental Petrochemicals site.
"For decades we have partnered with customers,
contractors, and suppliers in Egypt and the region to safely
deliver quality industrial facilities. These awards allow us
to continue the legacy with the delivery of world-class
facilities for Carbon Holdings," said Joe Thompson, general
manager of Bechtel's Downstream and Chemicals business.
"At the same time, the project will use goods and services
from the US, supporting jobs and creating opportunities
for small businesses in the country," he said. Basil El Baz,
laying pipelines and upgrading crackers (to receive ethane) chairman and CEO of Carbon Holdings, added: "We are very
at Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane Manufacturing Facilities. pleased to be working with Bechtel. The selection of a
This successful start-up underlines our ability to build world-class contractor is critical to ensuring the successful
world-scale capacities and infrastructure using complex delivery of a facility as large and as complicated as Tahrir
technologies, such as marine transportation of cryogenic Petrochemicals. Approximately 20,000 Egyptians will be
ethane, handling of ethane at (-) 90 deg.C, supply of directly employed during the peak construction phase
ethane to the crackers in an energy efficient way and pump with approximately 3,000 engineers and technicians being
ethane from Dahej to other locations. The execution of employed during the operations phase," he said. El-Baz
this project at this scale and magnitude is a first in the also noted: "This new petrochemical plant will produce
world. The Shale Gas industry in North America has grown the basic materials that shall facilitate the domestic
exponentially in the past 5 years. Consequently ethane has manufacturing of some of the most basic products that
become one of the most competitively priced feedstock for are required for the industrialisation process. This project
US crackers. The supply of Ethane to our crackers at Dahej, shall effectively increase Egypt's overall exports by an
Hazira and Nagothane will provide feedstock security and estimated 110 per cent - Tahrir Petrochemicals is without
flexibility, enabling us to select the most optimal feed mix a doubt a game changer for the Egyptian economy."

Plastics News | May 2017 24