The $700 million Qatar Vinyl Company's (QVC) plant at Qatar's Mesaieed Industrial City has become fully operational following its inauguration late last month by Amir Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

QVC will produce 290,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of caustic soda, 175,000 tpy of ethylene dichloride (EDC) and 230,000 tpy of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). The unit is the first producer of EDC, VCM and caustic soda in Qatar, utilising available ethylene produced by Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco) as one of the feedstock materials.

Vinyl chloride monomer is a raw material required for producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Qatar Petroleum (QP) will provide QVC the fuel gas needed for its 130 MW plant.

Krupp Uhde of Germany was responsible for the core process unit of the plant. Italy's Technip installed the 130 MW power generation/distribution plant and major utility plants and off-site facilities including upgradation of several existing Qapco plant utility systems and construction of QVC offsite facilities.

QVC's shareholders are: Qatar Petroleum (25.5 per cent stake), Qapco (31.9pc), Norsk Hydro (29.7pc), and Elf Atochem (12.9pc). Since QP has an 80pc share in Qapco, it makes its total shareholding in QVC 51 per cent.