Egyptian petrochemicals company Carbon Holdings is in negotiations with the UAE government over a $400m investment in its giant Tahrir Petrochemicals Complex, according to an anonymous official who spoke to the English-language newspaper Daily News Egypt.

The Tahrir petrochemicals complex has a total budget of $7bn – including financing charges and owners’ costs. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts will come in at almost $5bn, according to comments made to MEED earlier this month by Carbon Holdings’ CEO Basil el-Baz.

The complex includes a 1.5 million tonne-a-year (t/y) ethylene cracker and a polyethylene facility with capacity of about 1.4 million t/y.

The project is set to be financed with assistance from four national export credit agencies: Export-Import Bank of the US (US Exim); Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim); Korea Trade Insurance Company (Ksure); and Italian Export Credit Agency (SACE).