Engro’s New Petrochemical Project to Create 50K Jobs

[313ghazi]

Engro Corporation’s upcoming project of greenfield petrochemical integrated complex polypropylene will generate employment opportunities for over 50,000 persons.

This upcoming billion-dollar project in the petrochemical sector will provide direct and indirect employment to thousands of workers and will be pivotal for import substitution.

This was revealed during a meeting about this new project between the Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI), Atif Bokhari, and a business delegation of Engro Corporation that was led by its CEO, Ghias Khan.

Ghias Khan stated that the project will also generate significant revenue for the government and will be effective in promoting domestic economic growth.

The Chairman BOI informed the attendees of the meeting that the board is involved in several reform drives that are aimed at promoting investor confidence and making the business environment more conducive.

He added that and such a venture by Engro Corporation is a testament to the growing confidence of investors in the Pakistani market. He assured Engro Corporation of the complete support of the BOI to ensure the timely operationalization of the project.

Engro Corporation had announced a proposed polypropylene (PP) facility based on propane dehydrogenation (PDH) a few weeks ago through a notification submitted to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). It will spend $31.4 million to conduct the engineering, design, and technical studies for the project. The notification also revealed that the company will carry out a front-end engineering design (FEED) study on the PDH-PP project.

While no timeline for the completion of the project has been announced, the notification mentioned that the results of these studies are expected to inform the final investment decision in relation to this project and aid the arrangement of the right mix of debt and equity partners.

Engro's New Petrochemical Project to Create Thousands of Jobs

Engro Corporation’s upcoming project of greenfield petrochemical integrated complex polypropylene will generate employment opportunities for over 50,000 persons. This upcoming

propakistani.pk

 

[Samlee]

Great News!!!!!!!!

 

[niaz]

This news item is only a public relations exercise and probably deliberately kept vague because it only mentions total investment and the number of jobs it will create without giving any information about its capacity, location and source of the raw material.

Petrochemical manufacturing plants are generally capital intensive, but while requiring highly skilled manpower; the numbers employed is not large. The claim that the new plant would create 50K new jobs, therefore, appears to be grossly exaggerated. To the best of my info, there are no polypropylene plants in Pakistan.

According to the world bank statistics, the total quantity of all olefins polymers including polypropylene by Pakistan in 2018 was 424,427,000 Kg (say about 425 K metric tons) costing about $539-million. The figure included the import of about 61K tons of polypropylene from India.

https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/co.../tradeflow/Imports/partner/ALL/product/390210

On this basis, it is reasonable to assume that Engro’s Polypropylene plant would be of about 500K t.p.a. (tons per annum) capacity. Since Pakistan is already short of LPG (propane & butane), the feed propane would be imported, hence the plant should be located in probably in Karachi or at Port Qassim.

I had come across the establishment of a new Polypropylene plant of similar size also using propane dehydrogenation technology (PDH) a short while back in the 'Manufacturingtoday'.

Quote

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has accorded environment clearance (EC) to GAIL (India) for setting up five lakh t.p.a Propane Dehydrogenation unit integrated with Polypropylene unit.

The project is located in Usar Industrial Area, Usar village at Raigad district of Maharashtra.

The project will see products like Polypropylene of five lakh t.p.a, C4 LPG of 2,500 t.p.a. The total land required for the project is 160 acre and the land is available within GAIL Usar plant complex.

The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 6,706.76 crore. It will create direct employment for 330 people during operations and indirect employment for 2,500 people during construction.

The total fresh water requirement will be 11,520 cu mtr per day which will be met from supply of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).

The power requirement for the proposed project will be 125 MW and it will be sourced from state electricity grid.

Unquote

https://www.manufacturingtodayindia...p-propane-dehydrogenation-unit-in-maharashtra

One would expect that plants of similar capacity using similar technologies would also have similar staff requirements (Indian Rs 6,706.76 crore at 70 Indian Rupees to a dollar equals about $960-million). While the cost of the Engro plant is about right; it is unlikely that Gail’s plant would only create employment for 330 people with another 2,500 employed for construction but Engro’s venture would create 50,000 jobs! IMHO, the number of new employment opportunities created could be as high as 5,000, but certainly not 50,000. The news is however more than welcome.

For the benefit of the members who are not familiar with polypropylene plastic, kindly indulge me to briefly describe it.

Polypropylene (C3H6)n is a very useful thermoplastic for injection moulding because of its low melt viscosity. Shrinkage is only 1-2% but could vary depending upon melt temperature, mould wall thickness, mould temperature, and the percentage and type of additives. Polypropylene is a raw material for making containers, caps, vials, fiber optic cable insulation, electrical cable insulation, packaging materials, and storage boxes.

Polypropylenes are also extensively used by CNC machines. Computer Numerical Control electro-mechanical devices (CNC) are able to cut the polypropylene cleanly and with extremely great detail. CNC machines are able to create living hinges with polypropylene that have a thickness of as little as .010 inches. Polypropylene laboratory equipment, plating & chemical tanks, and automotive parts are fabricated by the CNC machines.

The propane dehydrogenation process which Engro’s plant would employ involves first converting propane into propylene monomer.

𝐶3𝐻8→(𝐶atalyst +𝐻eat at 600C)→𝐶3𝐻6+𝐻2

Propylene (C3H6) is subsequently polymerized into polypropylene by breaking the double bond in the propylene molecule using a catalyst to form long chains of 3-carbon atom molecules called polypropylene (PP).

Currently, China with annual production in excess of 20-million tons is the largest producer of polypropylene. In our neighborhood, India is producing close to 5-million t.p.a followed by Saudi Arabia at 3.5-million tons. Understand that despite producing close to a million tons per annum; there is a shortfall of about 700K t.p.a of polypropylene in Iran.

The worldwide market for polypropylenes is worth about $78-billion with the industry growing at about 5% per annum.

 

[Bilal.]

This news item is only a public relations exercise and probably deliberately kept vague because it only mentions total investment and the number of jobs it will create without giving any information about its capacity, location and source of the raw material.

Petrochemical manufacturing plants are generally capital intensive, but while requiring highly skilled manpower; the numbers employed is not large. The claim that the new plant would create 50K new jobs, therefore, appears to be grossly exaggerated. To the best of my info, there are no polypropylene plants in Pakistan.

According to the world bank statistics, the total quantity of all olefins polymers including polypropylene by Pakistan in 2018 was 424,427,000 Kg (say about 425 K metric tons) costing about $539-million. The figure included the import of about 61K tons of polypropylene from India.

https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/co.../tradeflow/Imports/partner/ALL/product/390210

On this basis, it is reasonable to assume that Engro’s Polypropylene plant would be of about 500K t.p.a. (tons per annum) capacity. Since Pakistan Is already short of LPG (propane & butane), the feed propane would be imported, hence the plant should be located in probably in Karachi or at Port Qassim.

I had come across the establishment of a new Polypropylene plant of similar size also using propane dehydrogenation technology (PDH) a short while back in the 'Manufacturingtoday'.

Quote

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has accorded environment clearance (EC) to GAIL (India) for setting up five lakh t.p.a Propane Dehydrogenation unit integrated with Polypropylene unit.

The project is located in Usar Industrial Area, Usar village at Raigad district of Maharashtra.

The project will see products like Polypropylene of five lakh t.p.a, C4 LPG of 2,500 t.p.a. The total land required for the project is 160 acre and the land is available within GAIL Usar plant complex.

The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 6,706.76 crore. It will create direct employment for 330 people during operations and indirect employment for 2,500 people during construction.

The total fresh water requirement will be 11,520 cu mtr per day which will be met from supply of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).

The power requirement for the proposed project will be 125 MW and it will be sourced from state electricity grid.

Unquote

https://www.manufacturingtodayindia...p-propane-dehydrogenation-unit-in-maharashtra

One would expect that plants of similar capacity using similar technologies would also have similar staff requirements (Indian Rs 6,706.76 crore at 70 Indian Rupees to a dollar equals about $960-million). While the cost of the Engro plant is about right; it is unlikely that Gail’s plant would only create employment for 330 people with another 2,500 employed for construction but Engro’s venture would create 50,000 jobs! IMHO, the number of new employment opportunities created could be as high as 5,000, but certainly not 50,000. The news is however more than welcome.

For the benefit of the members who are not familiar with polypropylene plastic, kindly indulge me to briefly describe it.

Polypropylene (C3H6)n is a very useful plastic for injection moulding because of its low melt viscosity. Shrinkage is only 1-2% but could vary depending upon melt temperature, mould wall thickness, mould temperature, and the percentage and type of additives. Polypropylene is a raw material for making containers, caps, vials, fiber optic cable insulation, electrical cable insulation, packaging materials, and storage boxes.

Polypropylenes are also extensively used by CNC machines. Computer Numerical Control electro-mechanical devices (CNC) are able to cut the polypropylene cleanly and with extremely great detail. CNC machines are able to create living hinges with polypropylene that have a thickness of as little as .010 inches. Polypropylene laboratory equipment, plating & chemical tanks, and automotive parts are fabricated by the CNC machines.

The propane dehydrogenation process which Engro’s plant would employ involves first converting propane into propylene monomer.

𝐶3𝐻8→(𝐶atalyst +𝐻eat at 600C)→𝐶3𝐻6+𝐻2

Propylene (C3H6) is subsequently polymerized into polypropylene by breaking the double bond in the propylene molecule using a catalyst to form long chains of 3-carbon atom molecules called polypropylene (PP).

Currently, China with annual production in excess of 20-million tons is the largest producer of polypropylene. In our neighborhood, India is producing close to 5-million t.p.a followed by Saudi Arabia at 3.5-million tons. Understand that despite producing close to a million tons per annum; there is a shortfall of about 700K t.p.a of polypropylene in Iran.

The worldwide market for polypropylenes is worth about $78-billion with the industry growing at about 5% per annum. The current price of polypropylene is in the region of $250 per ton.

They are considering a capacity between 550,000 to 750,000 tons sir.

Engro to establish petrochemical plant | The Express Tribune

Unit will help slash country’s chemical imports, boost exports

tribune.com.pk

 

[Jango]

This news item is only a public relations exercise and probably deliberately kept vague because it only mentions total investment and the number of jobs it will create without giving any information about its capacity, location and source of the raw material.

Petrochemical manufacturing plants are generally capital intensive, but while requiring highly skilled manpower; the numbers employed is not large. The claim that the new plant would create 50K new jobs, therefore, appears to be grossly exaggerated. To the best of my info, there are no polypropylene plants in Pakistan.

According to the world bank statistics, the total quantity of all olefins polymers including polypropylene by Pakistan in 2018 was 424,427,000 Kg (say about 425 K metric tons) costing about $539-million. The figure included the import of about 61K tons of polypropylene from India.

https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/co.../tradeflow/Imports/partner/ALL/product/390210

On this basis, it is reasonable to assume that Engro’s Polypropylene plant would be of about 500K t.p.a. (tons per annum) capacity. Since Pakistan is already short of LPG (propane & butane), the feed propane would be imported, hence the plant should be located in probably in Karachi or at Port Qassim.

I had come across the establishment of a new Polypropylene plant of similar size also using propane dehydrogenation technology (PDH) a short while back in the 'Manufacturingtoday'.

Quote

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has accorded environment clearance (EC) to GAIL (India) for setting up five lakh t.p.a Propane Dehydrogenation unit integrated with Polypropylene unit.

The project is located in Usar Industrial Area, Usar village at Raigad district of Maharashtra.

The project will see products like Polypropylene of five lakh t.p.a, C4 LPG of 2,500 t.p.a. The total land required for the project is 160 acre and the land is available within GAIL Usar plant complex.

The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 6,706.76 crore. It will create direct employment for 330 people during operations and indirect employment for 2,500 people during construction.

The total fresh water requirement will be 11,520 cu mtr per day which will be met from supply of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).

The power requirement for the proposed project will be 125 MW and it will be sourced from state electricity grid.

Unquote

https://www.manufacturingtodayindia...p-propane-dehydrogenation-unit-in-maharashtra

One would expect that plants of similar capacity using similar technologies would also have similar staff requirements (Indian Rs 6,706.76 crore at 70 Indian Rupees to a dollar equals about $960-million). While the cost of the Engro plant is about right; it is unlikely that Gail’s plant would only create employment for 330 people with another 2,500 employed for construction but Engro’s venture would create 50,000 jobs! IMHO, the number of new employment opportunities created could be as high as 5,000, but certainly not 50,000. The news is however more than welcome.

For the benefit of the members who are not familiar with polypropylene plastic, kindly indulge me to briefly describe it.

Polypropylene (C3H6)n is a very useful thermoplastic for injection moulding because of its low melt viscosity. Shrinkage is only 1-2% but could vary depending upon melt temperature, mould wall thickness, mould temperature, and the percentage and type of additives. Polypropylene is a raw material for making containers, caps, vials, fiber optic cable insulation, electrical cable insulation, packaging materials, and storage boxes.

Polypropylenes are also extensively used by CNC machines. Computer Numerical Control electro-mechanical devices (CNC) are able to cut the polypropylene cleanly and with extremely great detail. CNC machines are able to create living hinges with polypropylene that have a thickness of as little as .010 inches. Polypropylene laboratory equipment, plating & chemical tanks, and automotive parts are fabricated by the CNC machines.

The propane dehydrogenation process which Engro’s plant would employ involves first converting propane into propylene monomer.

𝐶3𝐻8→(𝐶atalyst +𝐻eat at 600C)→𝐶3𝐻6+𝐻2

Propylene (C3H6) is subsequently polymerized into polypropylene by breaking the double bond in the propylene molecule using a catalyst to form long chains of 3-carbon atom molecules called polypropylene (PP).

Currently, China with annual production in excess of 20-million tons is the largest producer of polypropylene. In our neighborhood, India is producing close to 5-million t.p.a followed by Saudi Arabia at 3.5-million tons. Understand that despite producing close to a million tons per annum; there is a shortfall of about 700K t.p.a of polypropylene in Iran.

The worldwide market for polypropylenes is worth about $78-billion with the industry growing at about 5% per annum.

As a materials engineer, and also a former oilfield professional, let me just say that your posts are always a treat to read, well written, and extremely clear in the information they present. The information is very consicely presented, and just the right amount of technical considering the forum.

Truly a pleasure to go through!

 

[niaz]

As a materials engineer, and also a former oilfield professional, let me just say that your posts are always a treat to read, well written, and extremely clear in the information they present. The information is very consicely presented, and just the right amount of technical considering the forum.

Truly a pleasure to go through!

I am humbled. Thank you very much for the appreciation.