QatarEnergy and Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LLC (CPChem)—a 50-50 joint venture (JV) of Chevron Corp.’s Chevron USA Inc. and Phillips 66 Co.—have secured Emerson Electric Co. (Emerson) as lead automation contractor for the Middle East’s largest ethane cracker now under construction at the JV’s Ras Laffan petrochemical project (RLPP) in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, 80 km north of Doha (OGJ Online, June 9, 2022).
As part of a contract awarded alongside consortium partner Viasat Inc.’s Viasat Energy Services, Emerson will provide the complex with a suite of automation technologies, software, and analytics, including integrated process control and safety systems that—using Emerson’s proprietary DeltaV distributed control system and Rosemount gas analyzer solutions—leverage advanced predictive technologies to reduce operational complexity and minimize project risk, the service provider said on Jan. 24.
Emerson confirmed Viasat will design and provide the RLPP’s sitewide integrated telecommunications infrastructure under the agreement.
This latest award for the $6-billion integrated olefins and polyethylene complex follows a series of contracts announced by QatarEnergy and CPChem in early January upon the partnership taking final investment decision to proceed with the project (OGJ Online, Jan. 9, 2023).
To be operated by Ras Laffan Petrochemicals (RLP), a newly formed JV in which QatarEnergy will hold a 70% majority interest and CPChem the remaining 30%, the RLPP will house an ethane cracker equipped to produce 2.08 million tonnes/year (tpy) of ethylene and a two-unit, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plant with a total production capacity of 1.68 million tpy.
Located on a 435-acre project site in Ras Laffan Industrial City, which—in addition to housing a massive LNG export terminal—serves as an onshore base for the processing of gas and other hydrocarbons produced from Qatar’s offshore North Field, RLP’s Ras Laffan petrochemical complex is scheduled for mechanical completion by 2026 for targeted commissioning later that year, according to the RLP JV.
