GE, Carbon Holdings ink agreement to provide technology, equity support to Egypt’s Tahrir Petrochemicals

19-Nov-13

GE and Carbon Holdings have signed a US$500 mln agreement to provide technology and equity support to Tahrir Petrochemicals' greenfield naphtha cracker and olefins complex project in Ain Sokhna, Egypt. As part of the partnership, GE will provide equity financing and advanced technologies to the new petrochemicals complex. This is part of an integrated package of solutions to meet the needs of the country. The technologies to be provided for the new plant include advanced aeroderivatives gas turbines, steam turbines, generators, water filtration and desalination equipment, turbo machinery compressors and industrial solutions services. The new plant would have an annual production capacity of 1.36 mln tons of ethylene and polyethylene and "significant quantities of propylene, benzene, butadiene and linear alpha olefins." Basil El-Baz, Chairman and CEO of Carbon Holdings, said, "Tahrir Petrochemicals Complex marks our vision to further strengthen the petrochemical sector of the country, and strengthen foreign direct investments. Developed through global partnerships, the new plant will contribute to the socioeconomic growth of Egypt, bringing the newest technologies for greater energy sector efficiencies and creating new jobs. Set to generate annual revenue of US$6 bln, once completed, the project will strengthen the country’s overall annual exports by over 25%." Featuring a power, water desalination and water treatment plant, the complex will employ a combined-cycle power plant to generate 300 MW of power. The full-fledged water desalination plant, featuring GE’s ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis technology, has a generation capacity of 3,800 cubic meters per hour.