Egyptian petrochemicals firm Carbon Holdings is in advanced talks with financers for a $3.75bn complex, known as Tahrir Petrochemicals, to be located at Suez in the north of Egypt.

Loan applications of $2.6bn were submitted in December 2011 to the Export-Import Bank of the US (Ex-Im) and South Korean export credit agencies (ECAs). A Preliminary Project Letter (PPL) was issued by the ECAs in mid-April, indicating that they are prepared to move forward on a financing offer subject to conditions, says a source close to the company.

The planned Tahrir complex will include a 1.3 million tonne-a-year (t/y) naphtha cracker. It will produce 1.35 million t/y of polyethylene, as well as 600,000 t/y of propylene, 210,000 t/y of butadiene and 420,000 of benzene.

The company plans to break ground in the second or third quarters of 2013 for a 36-month construction period. Mechanical start-up is scheduled for the end of 2016 and commercial production in 2017. Carbon Holdings will be the developer of the project and will hold a majority stake in the plant.

Dutch trading firm, Astra Oil will supply about 3.4 million t/y of naptha feedstock, while production will be traded by Houston-based Vinmar International and Zurich-headquartered Transammonia.

The polyethylene facility will use three gas-phase reactors. One will be dedicated to the production of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and the other two will provide flexibility by swinging between HDPE and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) production. One reactor also has the ability to produce metallocene.

US engineering firm Foster Wheeler is the project manager for the project, while Shaw, also of the US, South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction and the UK’s Petrofac have signed a joint venture agreement for the plant’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract on a lump-sum turn-key (LSTK) basis.

Shaw will also provide the cracker and recovery technology. Univation, a joint venture of the US’ Dow Chemical and ExxonMobil, will provide the technology for polyethylene production and catalysts.