Dubai – Mubasher: Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has announced signing a long-term supply deal with Shaheen Chem Investments LLC under which the companies will build a chemical complex Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD).
“Once it starts production early next decade, Shaheen’s ethylene dichloride and caustic soda plant will supply all its caustic soda output to EGA’s Al Taweelah alumina refinery for a period of 15 years,” EGA said in a statement.
The ethylene dichloride and caustic soda plant will bolster the UAE’s production of caustic soda production, an important raw material used in a variety of industries including petroleum products, the manufacture of chemicals manufacturing, and alumina refining.
First phase of production is expected to be 130,000 tonnes per year of caustic soda and 160,000 tonnes per year of ethylene dichloride.
The deal was signed by EGA CEO and managing director Abdulla Kalban with Shaheen Chem chairman Rashed Al Suwaidi, and Shaheen Chem’s managing director Walid Azhari.
The new plant will be built near EGA’s Al Taweelah site on a 300,000 square metre plot with room for future expansion, the statement showed.
Commenting on the deal, EGA’s Kalban stated that the new plant’s construction near his company’s alumina refinery “guarantees our supply of this vital raw material at competitive prices for years to come.”
He added that he was pleased that EGA’s demand for caustic soda was creating “further industrial expansion in Abu Dhabi, continuing EGA’s long-standing contribution to the diversification of our economy as we grow our own business.”
Meanwhile, Shaheen’s Rashed Al Suwaidi stated that his company was “excited to become the first producer of ethylene dichloride in the UAE and to later [bring] vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride production to the country.”
The new plant, which will “entirely meet EGA’s needs for this raw material”, will be the first in the UAE to produce ethylene dichloride that will be sold to third parties.
EGA is the largest industrial company in the UAE outside the oil and gas field.
