Indorama Eleme Petrochemical Limited (IEPL), the largest polyester producer in the world, plans to invest US$4.4bn in its operations by 2019 which will make it the largest petrochemicals company in Africa.
Eleme Petrochemical Limited Managing Director Mundra disclosed this when addressing the members of the Senate Committee on Privatisation, led by its Chairman, Senator Olugbenga Obadara, who were at the plant last week in continuation of their oversight visit to privatized enterprises in Rivers State.
Mundra said US$575m had been injected into the company since its privatization and that N33.9 billion had been paid as dividend to the federal and Rivers State governments since its acquisition from the federal government in 2006.
Eleme Petrochemicals is one of the leading suppliers of Poly-olefins to companies in Americas, Europe, Asia and other parts of Africa.
Located in the outskirts of Port Harcourt City, Rivers state, Nigeria, IEPL operates a state of the art Petrochemical Complex which produces a range of Poly Ethylene (PE) and Poly Propylene products. The PE and PP plants are licensed by Nova Chemicals, Canada and Lyondell Bassell of Italy, respectively, and the Olefins plant is licensed by M/s Kellogg Brown &Root of USA.
The Nigerian Petrochemicals industry, especially methanol and fertilizers, is set to grow following growth of production of gases. The industry has been reported to suffer capacity constrains, inconsistencies in plant operation due to disruptions, and failures in maintenance of facilities.
The country is set to become a net exporter of fertilizer since it is expecting an addition of 5.6mn tpa of urea and 1.74mn tpa of ammonia by 2019 to its petrochemicals industry. However, it must settle lack of labor, sabotaging of upstream infrastructure and political issues that could hinder upcoming projects in the sector.
Egypt last year also launched construction of its US$6bn Tahir Petrochemicals Complex.
