'Ethylene production will be highly efficient, while the cost of producing petrochemical raw materials will be low and the plastics materials will be very internationally competitive,' CPC vice-president Roy Chiu was quoted as saying in Taiwan's Economic Daily News.

The plant will include a naphtha cracker with capacity of 1.3 million tonnes a year (t/y) of ethylene, as well as several downstream units. Both Chiu and CPC chairman CT Kuo were in the Middle East in mid-September to conclude the deal and to sign a long-term natural gas supply contract with Doha (see page 12).

The petrochemicals complex agreement is the second to be signed in recent months by Taiwan and Abu Dhabi. In June, Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) signed a letter of intent with CPC to acquire a 20 per cent interest in the proposed $11,600 million Kuo-Kuang petrochemicals project.

The complex in southern Taiwan will include a 1.2 million-t/y naphtha cracker and a 300,000-barrrel-a-day refinery (MEED 1:7:05).

www.meed.com/petrochemicals