Qatar Petroleum and Shell Abandon $4.6 Billion Petrochemical Plant Joint Venture

By Bizclik Editor

Qatar’s petrochemical sector suffered a setback as its national petroleum company and Dutch giant Shell scrapped plans to build a $4.6 billion plant in Ras Laffan.

The parties blame the global slump in oil prices, making the plans “unfeasible”. The al-Karaana project was to be split with Qatar Petroleum owning 80 percent and Shell the remaining 20 percent.

READ OUR LATEST MAGAZINE ISSUE: January 2015 

In a statement the firms said that they had carried out “a careful and thorough evaluation of commercial quotations from EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) bidders, which showed high capital costs rendering it commercially unfeasible, particularly in the current economic climate prevailing in the energy industry".

News of the announcement caused share prices in Shell to fall by 3.32 percent, and comes shortly after the oil and gas company unveiled its new gas-to-liquid hub in Jebel Ali.

OPEC’s lack of agreement on curbing production has been blamed for the current crisis in the sector, with Brent Crude now hovering below $50 a barrel having been up around $110 in the middle of last year.

The group, formed of the world’s leading oil producers, will next meet in June of this year, with prices expected to still be low by this point. 

Follow us on Twitter @BusinessRME and check out our Facebook page

Share

Featured Articles

SAP creates new EMEA region and announces new President

SAP has announced it has appointed a new President for a newly-created EMEA region, aiming to make the most of the opportunities of cloud and AI technology

How SAP is facilitating continuous business transformation

Technology giant SAP has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of LeanIX, a leader in enterprise architecture management (EAM) software

Siemens and Microsoft: Driving cross-industry AI adoption

To help businesses achieve increased productivity, Siemens and Microsoft are deepening their partnership by showcasing the benefits of generative AI

Sustainability must become central to corporate strategy

Sustainability

The endless benefits of putting your people first

Leadership & Strategy

Working from anywhere: SAP uncovers secret life of employees

Human Capital