Project specifications have yet to be decided, but ECHEM has drawn up provisional plans for an estimated $260 million expansion of existing PVC capacity. ECHEM subsidiary Egyptian Petrochemicals Companycurrently produces 110,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of PVC and PVC products, most of which is for export.

The new project is independent of the first phase of the ECHEM petrochemicals masterplan, which also calls for the construction of a 1.7 million-t/y methanol/ammonia plant in the Mediterranean Industrial Zone. USTDA in July awarded a grant to finance a feasibility study for the proposed $590 million plant, to be built near Damietta. The study will be carried out by the US' Kellogg Brown & Root.