GCC set to double global petrochemical market share

GROWTH PLAN: The GCC is aiming to double its share in the global petrochemicals market by 2012. (Getty Images)

The GCC's petrochemical industry is aiming to double its share in the global market by 2012, a top official has revealed.

Abdulla Bin Hamad al-Attiyah, Qatar's minister of energy and industry, said the region was on the verge of its largest ever expansion and would be in a position to "take the lion's share" of new global petrochemical capacity growth.

"The total global ethylene capacity is projected to be 160 million metric tons by 2012 with the GCC's share expected to grow to 15 per cent in 2012 from seven per cent in 2002," he said in a keynote speech at the Annual Forum of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA).

He said he was confident that industry captains in the region would overcome the challenges facing the petrochemical industry, including the plummeting oil price, news agency WAM reported.

He said that the most important challenge facing the region was meeting energy and feedstock needs with growing demand of petrochemicals usage in daily life placing tremendous pressure on feedstock supply in the region.

"It is understood that additional associated gas from our oil resources in the region is expected to be limited, as crude oil production is expected to only grow at incremental rates, yet the availability of methane from non-associated gas is expected to grow," he said.

"We have to use our natural gas resources very strategically for energy and petrochemical projects."

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