Balexco expanding in region
Bahrain Aluminium Extrusion Company (Balexco), which is expanding regionally, is issuing construction tenders for its projects in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, while a third project in Yemen is in the feasibility study stage.

The QR80 million ($22 million) Qatar plant will have extrusion, anodising and powder-coating capabilities. Capacity will be 7,000-8,000 tonnes per year (tpy), which could be doubled in five years. The project is a joint venture with Qatar Islamic Bank.

The Yemen project will have the same capabilities as the Qatar one. Feasibility studies, conducted by KPMG, for the YR3.9 billion ($22 million) project were completed in September.

The SR41.2 million ($11 million) 3,000-4,000tpy powder coating plant in Riyadh is a joint venture with the local Al Owaidah Company for Contracting which owns a 10 per cent stake in Balexco.  Extrusion and anodising capabilities may be added at a later date.
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) will provide the feedstock for the three plants. 

Chinese unit begins producion
A factory set up in China by UAE manufacturer Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Ceramics has begun initial production.
The $20 million factory’s production capacity is 15,000sq m per day on single shift and this could be maximised to 45,000sq m daily with additional shifts. It is situated 300km from Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, RAK Ceramics has commenced construction work on a new factory in Sudan, which will cost $19 million. It will have a capacity of 10,000 sq m of various ceramics products per day. Initial production is due early next year, according to Dr Khater Massaad, general manager of RAK Ceramics.

Microsol facility opens in Dubai
Microsol has opened a new engineering and assembly facility in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone.
The Dubai opening is part of a wider worldwide expansion. Microsol already has a significant base in the region with utility companies in Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.

Microsol last year opened offices in a technology park in Tyneside, England, and recently set up a new US office in Connecticut.
The US move follows Microsol’s $2 million purchase of Connecticut-based ATS, a prominent supplier of specialised engineering services to the power industry.

The company plans to raise funds for further expansion worldwide.
Funding will come from existing shareholders, including ICC Venture Capital, Anglo Irish Bank, Enterprise Ireland and Cairn Holdings.

Microsol Limited, formed in 1986 with headquarteres in Dublin, Ireland, supplies a range of information, communications and automation products and services for electric power utilities.

Usha Martin conmmissions plant
Indian company Usha Martin Limited has commissioned a wire rope plant at the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone in Dubai.
The plant, named Brunton Shaw Middle East FZE, is an offshoot of its venture with Brunton Shaw of the UK.
The company expects to increase its present capacity of 65,000 tonnes by another 6,000 tonnes. Brunton Shaw is expected to cater to the Middle East, African and European markets.

Agreement signed
Qatar and South Africa have signed a preliminary agreement to set up a $1 billion fuel grade methanol project at Ras Laffan, 85km north of Doha, Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah Al Attiyah said.

The project, 51 per cent owned by Qatar Petroleum (QP) and 49 per cent by South Africa’s PetroWorld, is designed to produce 12,000 to 15,000 tonnes a day of “environmentally benign” fuel grade methanol, using about 400 million cubic feet a day of gas from Qatar’s North Field.

PetroWorld is a 50:50 joint venture between Petroleum Oil and Gas Corp of South Africa and Transworld Exploration Ltd.

“This world-scale gas conversion project will allow Qatar to diversify its utilisation of gas from its existing options of GTL (gas-to-liquids), LNG (liquefied natural gas), fertilisers and petrochemicals and optimise Qatar’s competitive position across world markets,” Attiyah said after signing the Heads of Agreement deal with his South African counterpart, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Attiyah said the project would be financed 70 per cent by loans and 30 per cent by equity and go on stream in 2008.

Saudi Aramco’s plans
Saudi Aramco plans to set up a 50:50 joint venture to carry out the expansion of the 325,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) SR11.2 billion ($3 billion) hydroskimming export refinery in Rabigh and add a petrochemical complex at the site by early 2004.

The new complex will be located next to the existing refinery and include a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at the refinery for the production of polypropylene.

Three companies have been shortlisted for the project namely Dow Chemicals of USA, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and Sumitomo Chemicals of Japan.

Once a joint venture partner has been appointed, a tender will be issued for the front-end engineering and design (Feed) contract.

Included in the contract will be the setting up of an ethane cracker with a capacity of 1 million tonnes a year of ethylene, which will be used as feedstock for the production of polyolefin. Feedstock will be pumped from the Eastern Province through the east-west pipeline.

ABC is advisor for Egyptian plant
Arab Fertiliser and Chemicals Company (Afcco) of Egypt and Arab Banking Corporation (ABC), Bahrain, have signed an agreement appointing ABC as advisor for a fertiliser project being developed in Egypt by the Joint Arab Investment Corporation (Jaicorp) of Abu Dhabi.

 The $350 million gas-based plant, to be located in Western Suez, is the first stage of a planned integrated chemical fertiliser complex with an anticipated total investment of $1.1 billion.
In its first stage, the plant will produce 1 million tonnes of high-grade NPK fertiliser and 0.6 million tones of calcium nitrate fertiliser per year.

NCC gets contract for power units
Saudi Electric Company (SEC) has awarded National Contracting Company (NCC) an SR900 million ($240-million) contract to build eight additional units at its power plant in Jeddah.
Black & Veatch was given a subcontract worth SR18.7 million to provide engineering services and project management for the expansion.

The Jeddah plant currently has 27 simple cycle units. The eight new units will use General Electric 7EA combustion turbines and produce 480 megawatts (MW) , meeting the requirements of the city’s more than three million population.