Total S.A. (Paris, France; www.total.com) and Sonatrach (Algiers, Algeria; www.sonatrach.com) have signed a shareholder agreement to create a joint venture known as STEP (Sonatrach Total Entreprise Polymères).
STEP will be responsible for carrying out a joint petrochemical project in Arzew, western Algeria. The project includes a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit and a polypropylene production unit with an output capacity of 550,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr). The two partners (Sonatrach 51%, Total 49%) are planning to start the front-end engineering and design (FEED) from November. This project will allow to valorize the propane, produced in large quantities locally, by transforming it into polypropylene, a plastic for which demand is growing strongly. The partners previously announced that they were executing engineering studies related to a joint petrochemicals project.