GE and Carbon Holdings Signs a US$500mn Agreement to Build Naphtha Cracker

US-based firm General Electric Co. (GE) and Egyptian private company Carbon Holdings have signed a US$ 500 million agreement to provide technology and equity support for the building of a Greenfield naphtha cracker and olefins complex in the Tahrir petrochemicals complex in Ain Sokhna, located in the Gulf of Suez in Egypt.

As part of the partnership, GE and Carbon Holdings will provide equity financing and advanced technologies to the new petrochemicals complex, reports the State Information Service of Egypt.

Egyptian Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour, who witnessed the signing of the agreement, said Egypt is focused on providing a strong and business-friendly environment for investors, and in addition to facilitating easy procedures that promote industrial investments, the country is committed towards bringing advanced technological partnerships that can benefit the national economy.

According to the Minister, the US firm’s partnership in one of the largest industrial projects in Egypt highlights the growing confidence of foreign investors in the country, and the project would definitely be a strong value-addition to the nation’s economy.

John Rice, vice chairman of GE, said the GE’s commitment to the project in Egypt cuts across all other business and the firm is looking forward to more projects in the country.

Basil El-Baz, CEO of Carbon Holding, said the construction of the cracker would begin sometime in 2014 and is expected to be completed in around 4 years time. The petrochemical facility is expected to create thousands of jobs in the region, he added.

The project has been billed as the world’s largest naphtha liquid cracker plant with an annual production capacity of 1.36mn tons of ethylene and polyethylene, with significant quantities of propylene, benzene, butadiene and linear alpha olefins.

Carbon Holding is an industrial developer and operator implementing downstream and oil and gas projects in Egypt, and GE is US’ biggest industrial corporation engaged in energy, oil gas, and power, among others