Petrochemical major Equate is set to take advantage of an expected petrochemical boom with an expansion which will double output at the plant.

Equate has enjoyed mixed fortunes since its start-up in 1997, but a $3 billion plan will see output double from one million tonnes per year (tpy) at the Shuaiba facility by 2004, according to officials.

The Equate II project will produce polyethylene, ethylene glycol, polypropylene and aromatics such as benzene, styrene and toluene.

Petrochemical producers in the Gulf will have to increasingly show a greater sense of urgency in dealing with bottlenecks at plants, according to Equate vice president (commercial) Mohammed Al Hasawi. This will be particularly pertinent given that a petrochemical boom in the Gulf will throw up huge logistical challenges due to its export-orientated nature.

''While huge petrochemical product tonnage will be coming out of the region, with the overwhelmingly dominant portion meant for export markets - since the Gulf markets are expected to consume just a single-digit percentage of this output - we have to find ways of streamlining operations, and efficient methods of moving out our products,'' he said.

Gulf petrochemical exports are catching up with crude oil exports, and may even surpass them in the near future.

Funding for the ambitious expansion will involve the shareholders extending 40 per cent and commercial banks providing the remainder.

Petrochemical Industries Co (PIC) and Union Carbide each have 45 per cent stakes in the company, with Boubyan Petrochemicals Co holding the remainder. Equate is Kuwait's largest petrochemical venture.

The $2 billion Shuaiba facility includes a 650,000 tpy ethylene cracker, two polyethylene units with a capacity of 450,000 tpy, and a 350,000 tpy ethylene glycol plant, production from which is targeted primarily to Asian and European markets.

Close to Kuwait National Petroleum Company's (KNPC) LPG plant (which supplies ethane feedstock), Equate was inaugurated in 1997.