Since its first shipment in November 1997, the impact of Equate Petrochemical Company (Equate) on the Kuwaiti economy has been profound with the company spearheading the State’s industrialisation and global vision for non-oil exports.

Equate recently marked seven years of plant operations from its Shuaiba world-scale petrochemical complex with increasing profitability and a sustained safety record whilst announcing significant plant expansion for its new olefins project (Equate II) due for commissioning in 2008.
Equate’s annual production is 800,000 tons of ethylene; 600,000 tons of polyethylene and 400,000 tons of ethylene glycol, a key intermediate for polyester fibre and container resin.  Equate is also a leading producer of a broad range of linear-low and linear high-density polyethylene used in packaging, agricultural film and container molding applications.
“More than US$1.5 billion has been signed off by the board of Equate for plant expansion to bring total capacity to 3.5 million tons by 2008.  Leveraging from our existing plant synergies, the global export success and economic impact made by Equate on the Kuwait economy cannot be underestimated,” says Hamad Al-Terkait, President and CEO of Equate.
“Export income from our ethylene products now makes up 60 per cent of the State’s non-oil exports and together with positive benefits from economic diversification and our progressive Kuwaitisation employment policy, Equate is a high achiever in a cyclical global market,” says Al-Terkait.
Equate created its own distinctive Wave Programme whereby young Kuwaiti graduates - the elite crop of all tested and interviewed applicants - become the seed corn for special training and retainment courses before being certified for plant operations.
Since plant commissioning in October 1997, Equate has recorded many successful milestones including in 2004 its third consecutive year of profitability and second dividend distribution.  In 2003, Equate’s net profit reached US$276 million, a 160 per cent increase in profitability over 2002.
According to Al-Terkait, Kuwait first began its downstream petrochemical business with the establishment of Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) in the mid 1960s, the first such complex in the Gulf to produce ammonia and nitrogenous fertilisers including ammonia urea, ammonium sulphate and sulphuric acid.
The creation of additional downstream capacity has been implicit in Kuwait’s industrial thinking since the 1980s, a diversification strategy to reduce the State’s dependence on oil exports, a policy only frustrated by external political events.
Kuwaiti-born Al-Terkait is the quintessential technocrat with 25 years marketing and management experience in the downstream sector. Holding a degree in business administration from Kuwait University followed by graduate studies in Edinburgh, Al-Terkait joined PIC in 1979 and is an international expert in the downstream petrochemical sector and supply-chain management.  
Equate is considered Kuwait’s first truly gas-related joint venture, a US$1.2 billion investment leveraging from comparative cost advantages and low feedstock prices and superb supply infrastructure.  Formed by the equal 45 per cent equity partnership of PIC and Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) with UCC providing advanced ethylene glycol and polyethylene technology; and Boubyan Petrochemical Company with 10 per cent equity.  UCC and Dow Chemical Company merged in February 2001 further increasing Equate’s global positioning and marketing strength.
“2003 was an exceptional year for Equate with all our performance indicators reflecting significant milestones for our customers, employees and stake holders,” says Al-Terkait.
“Topping the list for safety and security of our people and environment with Equate sustaining its safety record during 2003 achieving 5.8 million safe work hours including all contractor labourers representing almost one third of the work force,” adds Al-Terkait.
Despite the volatile global business climate in 2003, Equate increased its market share for the sixth consecutive year during a period of strengthening commodity prices according to Al-Terkait.  During this period, Equate has been intensifying its production levels and controlling operating costs whilst re-engineering specific processes to increase profitability.
As an export plant, Equate marketing is facilitated through offices across its key markets in Beijing, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore and Kuwait with each of these offices managed by home country nationals.
“Ninety-eight per cent of our production is exported with 60 per cent exported to Asia and 40 per cent of this 60 per cent sent to China. Thirty per cent is for the wider Middle East, India and Pakistan and the balance to Europe.
The Middle East is the principal supply chain for product with the Chinese market importing four million tonnes of polythene. With significant growth anticipated, Al-Terkait is already taking steps to ensure that his supply-chain is not impacted by congested port facilities in the next few years as demand outstrips logistical capacity. 
“Our main task is to enhance supply chain management and optimise our delivery systems through our SAP applications and management systems.  Typically, we are able send products to our customers within a 72-hour window,” adds Al-Terkait. 
In 1996 before the Shuaiba plant was commissioned, Al-Terkait joined Equate marketing and was elected by the board to become the President and CEO in November 2001 for a three-year term subsequently extended for a further three year term.
Equate applies the most advanced technology in the world that maximises resource allocation and minimising waste and inefficiency.
Since Dow Chemical merged with UCC, Dow has applied its own benchmarking of key performance indicators including plant productivity, profitability and operational costs. 
According to Al-Terkait, Equate is in a top quartile for polyethylene production and in the third quartile for global producers.
“One of the secrets of our success is that from the outset Equate went to its customers and asked them what they liked and didn’t like when dealing with a producer.  We plan to deliver more value to our customers for our products and are making changes to ensure that we are ahead in our ability to deliver product on time to our global customers. The Middle East is a critical part of the global supply chain and it is important for Equate to be able to meet world demand by harnessing our full facilities.”
“Equate is a performance-led operation with unique motivational and incentive packages across more than 100 goals across all departments. We have a staff of 800 people of which more than 400 are Kuwaitis, a highly trained elite, and our success is based upon emphasising the development of human resources together with our state-of-the-art technology.  As Equate positions itself for global growth our vision is to deliver more product to our market, whilst maintaining our corporate culture of openness and performance excellence,” concludes Al-Terkait.