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Egypt has significant reserves of
natural gas. Some estimates indicate that Egypt has almost 60 trillion
cubic feet gas reserves, mostly in the Western Desert and the Gulf
of Suez. So far this gas is used for power generation. No major
petrochemical investments have yet materialised, despite the fact
that almost 1.2 million tonnes of commodity plastics like PE, PVC
and PS are used in Egypt. Almost all these petrochemicals are imported
either from Saudi Arabia, Korea or India.
The Egyptian Government has been contemplating
the setting up of major petrochemical projects including:
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A 1 million tpa of Ethylene cracker and Polyethylene
plant. The Government of Egypt is in the advanced stage
of developing a joint venture with Chevron Phillips. |
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Another project is expected to produce propylene and
LAB |
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The other project is expected to produce Methanol
as well as Styrene/Polystyrene. |
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To support the carpet factories of Oriental Weavers
Group, there is a possibility of doubling the capacity
of PP Plant from the existing 160K tpa. Propylene for
this project would be obtained from the new 350K tpa dehydrogenation
project. |
All these projects are at an advanced stage and
could be finalized by 2004.
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