Emir of Qatar opens plant

On June 20, 2001, the Emir of Qatar, H. H. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, opened the industrial-scale chlorine/EDC/VCM complex, completed and commissioned by Krupp Uhde at the Mesaieed industry location, 40 km south of the capital Doha, after an engineering and construction period of 32 months.

Even the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Johannes Rau, gladly took the opportunity to visit the large-scale construction site during his state visit to Qatar in the middle of February.

"We are proud to have completed this major project on schedule and within the agreed budget," said the Qatari Minister of Industry and Energy, H.E. Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiyah, during the opening ceremony in the presence of the Emir of Qatar, H. H. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

"This project is part of the government`s strategic plan to utilise optimally natural resources of the state (oil and gas) for economically viable projects," added the minister.

Dr. Wolfgang Essig, the Executive Board Chairman of Krupp Uhde, said in his speech: "We saw this project as an enormous challenge. Even for an engineering contractor like Krupp Uhde with experience in the construction of turnkey plants, it was and is a stunning technical and logistic success to build a complex plant of this nature on schedule and to the satisfaction of the customer. The plant complex we have built here for our customer Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC) will further enhance the economic power of the Sheikhdom of Qatar."

The Qatari customer`s further plans include the construction of a PVC plant, in which the chemical product vinyl chloride can be used. World demand for PVC is second only to polyethylene. PVC has a wide range of applications in the manufacture of pipes/tubes, cable coating, industrial safety belts, bottles and containers, wall coverings and casement sections.

Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC) was able to ship the first ethylene dichloride (EDC) from Qatar to two major customers in India, Reliance and Finolex, as early as the beginning of May. The caustic soda obtained during the chlorine production is also sold on international markets as a chemical intermediate which can be used in the pulp and paper industry, in organic and inorganic compounds or in the detergents and aluminium industries.

Project execution with Italian partner

In December 1998 Krupp Uhde and its Italian partner Technip Italy started work on this turnkey industrial-scale chemical complex, which was completed and commissioned by the end of June 2001. The contract was worth some US $450 million.

The customer, Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC), is jointly owned by Qatar General Petroleum Company (QGPC), Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO), Norsk Hydro and Elf Atochem.

The new chemical complex comprises three plants: one for the production of 260,000 t/year of chlorine and 290,000 t/year of caustic soda, a second for 175,000 t/year of ethylene dichloride (EDC) and a third for 230,000 t/year of vinyl chloride (VCM).

The Dortmund-based engineering company Krupp Uhde was responsible for the design and construction of all three complete process plants. Technip Italy`s scope of services included the construction of all offsites and connecting elements to the existing ethylene plant (this product is required for the production of EDC), extension of the jetty (ship loading), to which salt will later be delivered for the chlorine production, and construction of the complete cooling water system, utilities including the power supply and various storage tanks for the caustic soda solution, EDC and VCM.

Process chain from a single source

As a technology-driven engineering company Krupp Uhde uses its own membrane process for the production of chlorine and caustic soda solution. It is a modular concept consisting of single elements and is extremely environment friendly and energy-saving. Krupp Uhde is one of the world`s leading suppliers in this field.

For the EDC/VCM plants Krupp Uhde uses the Vinnolit process (formerly Hoechst process), which we license in conjunction with Vinnolit. Krupp Uhde is also one of the world`s leading companies for the construction of plants based on this process.

High standards of environmental protection and safety

Work on the site was governed by the international Health, Safety and Environment programme. These strict control procedures, which were backed up by a "safety walk" round the project site twice a week, proved highly successful with regard to safety standards. 15 million hours were worked without a single accident.

3,500 workers on site

There were almost 3,500 workers and specialists from 15 countries, for example Qatar, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Philippines, Iran, South Africa, Norway, Italy, Germany, France and Japan, working on this major project site in the final spurt towards the completion date of the complete complex in June 2001. The procurement service was also just as international as the project team. For example, the giant columns come from Malaysia, some of the steel structures from UK and Egypt, and there are compressors and machinery from Japan, Germany and other European countries.

Prior success in Qatar

In 1997 Krupp Uhde designed, built and successfully commissioned a large-scale turnkey fertiliser complex worth some US $420 million for the production of ammonia and urea only a stone`s throw from this project site. The customer was Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO). This same customer is now planning a similar expansion, for which Krupp Uhde is preparing a bid.

Project data at a glance

Krupp Uhde is a company in the Technologies segment of the ThyssenKrupp Group and has a workforce of 3,200 employees worldwide. The company`s activities focus on the design and construction of chemical and other industrial plants in the following fields: fertilisers, organic chemicals and plastics, electrolysis, oil & gas and pharmaceuticals.

Krupp Uhde GmbH
Friedrich-Uhde-Strasse 15
D-44141 Dortmund
Tel. +49 2 31 5 47-0, Fax +49 2 31 5 47 30 32
http://www.thyssenkrupp.com/uhde

Bei Rückfragen:
Person responsible:
Horst Gieseler - Public Relations
Tel.+49 2 31 5 47 - 20 35, Fax +49 2 31 5 47 26 28
E-Mail: GieselerH@kud.thyssenkrupp.com