(Ecofin Agency) - Algeria’s state-owned oil company, Sonatrach, is currently in negotiations with several foreign technology partners for the realization of 5 petrochemical joint ventures in the country, Amine Mazouzi (photo), the company’s CEO, revealed.

According to Mazouzi, the ventures involve a project of ethane and LPG cracker complex of 1 million tons of ethylene, a project of PDH PP complex with a capacity of 600,000 tons and another project of methanol and derivatives complex with a capacity of 1 million tons. Others are a synthetic rubber complex and 5 million tyre complex project.

The CEO added that the Group has also launched three petrochemical projects. The first involves the renovation of the Skikda petrochemical complex’s ethylene unit to produce 120,000 tons of ethylene every year, while the remaining two; the construction of a methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) complex with a capacity of 200,000 tons per year and the Benzene Linear Alkyl Complex (LAB) project with a capacity of 100,000 tons per year will be signed in December and January 2017, respectively, Algeria Press Service reports.

The completion of all the projects inaugurated by Sonatrach in 2016 will increase the company's refining capacity to 50 million tons and meet the demands of petroleum products in the national market by 2040, Mazouzi added.

Anita Fatunji