State-energy company Qatar Petroleum (QP) and South Korea’s Honam Petrochemical have scrapped plans to build a $2.6bn joint venture petrochemicals complex in Qatar, due to the global financial crisis.

Chong Bum Shick, Honam’s president and chief executive officer told delegates on the sidelines of the ChinaPlas exhibition in Shanghai on 20 April that the project was unlikely to be revived in the short term as the company plans to expand its existing facilities, chemical market tracker, ICIS reports.

The Qatari government was set to make a decision in January this year on whether to go ahead with a series of ethane cracker projects. The government is considering proposals from the US’ ExxonMobil Corporation, France’s Total Petrochemicals and the UK/Dutch Shell Group. QP signed agreements with the companies between 2005 and 2007 to develop new petrochemicals projects using ethane gas as feedstock.However, QP has yet to agree to build any of the projects.

QP had planned the 70:30 joint venture with Honam for a petrochemicals complex at Mesaieed to include a 1.3 million tonne a year (t/y) ethylene cracker and 700,000 t/y polypropylene unit.