Qatar formally opened a fourth expansion project on at Qatar Fertiliser Co, or Qafco, which makes the Gulf Arab state a leading producer of urea, and formed a newilling firm with Japan Drilling Co.

The project, built at a cost of more than 2 billion riyals ($549 million), includes a new ammonia unit with a capacity of 2,000 tonnes per day and a new urea unit with a capacity of 3,200 tonnes per day - raising QAFCO’s annual output capacity to 2.0 million tonnes of ammonia and 2.8 million tonnes of urea.
Qafco is one of Qatar’s slew of petrochemical projects designed to cash in on its mammoth gas reserves, the world’s third largest.
The firm is 75 per cent owned by Industries of Qatar and 25 per cent by Norway’s Yara International.
Qafco signed a $400 million loan in 2001 with a group of regional and international banks to partly finance the expansion project, with associated supporting facilities.
Qatar Petroleum and Japan Drilling Co also signed an agreement to establish the first national drilling company in Qatar with an initial investment of $258 million, a joint statement said.
The company will be named Gulf Drilling International with QP holding 60 per cent and JDC 40 per cent. It will be established initially based on six rig operations with an investment capital of $258m during the first three years of the venture.
The company in the future will include services like offshore accommodation, workover rigs and oil well services.
The newly formed company will start operations in the second quarter with one jack-up rig purchased from JDC.
It will invest in newly-built rigs to suit the drilling needs of Qatar Petroleum and other international operators in the emirate. GDI will also purchase second-hand rigs to expand its operations to meet current and future demand for drilling rigs in Qatar, and will also pursue business opportunities outside Qatar.