By virtue of a decree issued at the end of last year, the Qatari government established the Qatar Chemical and Petrochemical Marketing and Distribution Company (Muntajat; www.muntajat.qa), which now holds the exclusive rights to purchase, market, distribute and sell the emirate’s chemical and petrochemical output on the global market. Muntajat is headed by CEO Abdulrahman Ali Al Abdulla, and will establish 36 global offices in addition to logistics establishments and warehouses across the world to support its marketing, sales and distribution activities.

During the company’s inauguration, Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar’s minister of Energy & Industry and a member of Muntajat’s board of directors, said, “Muntajat is set to become the face of Qatar in the international chemicals and petrochemicals market, with a streamlined operation marked by its logistics efficiency and economies of scale. Muntajat’s activities will consolidate chemical and petrochemical marketing and distribution efforts into a single entity.” The move creates one of the industry’s largest petrochemical marketing companies.

The new group’s formation is set against the backdrop of the proposed USD 25 bn the emirate plans to invest in its chemicals and petrochemicals sector by 2020, when Qatar’s “Chemical and Petrochemical Decade” is due to begin. According to Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe capacity database (www.polyglobe.net), the emirate currently turns out some 2.6m t/y of petrochemicals, with another more than 7m t/y in various planning and building stages.