Industry

Siam Cement, Qatar sign Vietnam petchem deal

Thailand's largest industrial conglomerate said it had signed a deal with state oil firm Qatar Petroleum International to invest in a Vietnam petrochemical complex worth up to US$4 billion. The project, delayed by the global economic crisis, is part of Siam Cement's drive to become one of Southeast Asia's leading petrochemical producers. Vietnam state oil monopoly Petrovietnam and Vietnam National Chemical Corp would hold a combined 29 per cent of the project. The rest would be held by non-Vietnamese partners including Siam Cement, Qatar Petroleum and a trading firm. Qatar Petroleum would provide feedstock for the complex, which includes a 1.4 million ton olefins cracker that is highly flexible between gas and naphtha feedstock and will be fully integrated into downstream products. The investment would also cover infrastructure such as shipping ports, a power plant and storage facilities, it said. Further details would be released in mid-2010, it added.

Egypt's Suez Lime to build new plant by 2011

Egypt's Suez Lime Company, a venture involving Suez Cement, will build a lime manufacturing plant that will make 300 tons of lime daily when its first kiln opens in 2011, Suez Cement said. Suez Cement, one of Egypt's largest listed cement makers, said a second Suez Lime kiln at the plant east of Cairo near the Suez Canal would boost annual production to 200,000 tons. Lime is used in cement production. "The establishment of the new lime plant will enable Suez Lime Company to expand its productivity and promote its advanced technologies," Nabil Francis, Managing Director of Suez Lime, said in a statement. The statement did not say how much the new line would cost.

New projects by Textile Industries Company

The State Company for Textile Industries is carrying out several new projects in the cities of Hilla, Diwaniya and Najaf, an official statement said. "The company has received the equipment for a project to produce medical cotton, requirements and diapers at its Diwaniya factory," according to a statement released by the Ministry of Industry and Minerals. "The project will undergo an experimental operation by the end of this year," the statement noted.