Six Billion Dollars! Another World-class Petrochemical Project Opens

Qatar Energy is set to break ground on its $6 billion Ras Laffan petrochemical project, the company's largest petrochemical investment in Qatar.

First announced in 2019, the world-scale polymer complex will have the largest ethylene cracker in the Middle East, producing 2.1 million tons of ethylene per year and increasing Qatar's ethylene capacity by more than 40 percent.

In 2023, Qatar Energy announced the final investment decision for the project, in which it holds a 70 percent stake and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company holds a 30 percent stake.

The project also includes two polyethylene production lines with a total capacity of 1.7 million tons per year of high-density polyethylene products, Qatar Energy said. The project will increase Qatar's overall petrochemical capacity to about 14 million tons/year by the end of 2026.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Qatar was one of the first countries in the Middle East to establish a petrochemical base, taking advantage of its abundant natural gas resources.2023 In March 2023, Qatar Energy and Chevron Phillips announced the start of construction of the Golden Triangle polymer plant near Houston, USA, which includes a 2.08 million tons/year capacity ethylene cracker.