Egypt Petchems Producers Target New Products, Increased Exports

10 Apr 2020 Issue: 63 / 15 By: David Knott, Peter Stevenson

Echem is planning to develop new petchems projects to boost local industry and exports. Egypt’s seven planned petchems projects and one fertilizer plant will broaden Egypt’s chemicals portfolio, with modest additional demand on gas.

Saad Helal, chairman of Egypt state petchems firm Echem outlined his firm’s strategy in a 4 April meeting with oil minister Tarek El Molla: boost supplies to local manufacturers and increase exports.

Abdel Mageed Hegazy, CEO of Alexandria-based Ethydco, also present at the meeting, says his firm is moving forward with a long-planned synthetic rubber plant, awarding the key construction contract to Egypt’s Petrojet and Italy’s Saipem. The new plant will produce 26,000 t/y of polybutadiene from butadiene monomer feedstock delivered from a unit within Ethydco’s complex at Alexandria, which comprises a 460,000 t/y ethylene plant and linked 400,000 t/y polyethylene (PE) plant (MEES, 7 February). The polybutadiene plant will cost $180mn and take two years to build. (CONTINUED - 619 WORDS)