Qatar Petrochemical Producers Are Worried High Oil Prices Could Hurt Them.

APS Review Downstream Trends, December, 2007

The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA), which groups the main companies in this sector in the Middle East, are warning that relatively high crude oil prices may slow economic growth in the US and China and cause demand for chemicals to fall. The GPCA members are investing about $80 bn in expanding their capacity to produce petrochemicals and downstream chemicals by 2010.

The GPCA, led by Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) which is one of the world's biggest producers of olefins, polymers and key chemicals, has recently put the $80 bn figure on the basis of estimates made earlier in 2007. But as oil prices have been rising rapidly since early 2007, the pace of growth in project costs has been more rapid. So, SABIC experts say, the...

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