Qatar Petro opens its office in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: Qatar Petrochemicals Company (QAPCO) will have 26 direct offices, to market its products worldwide, by the end of 2009 to serve its 4,500 customers across 85 countries, a senior official of the leading petrochemical manufacturer of West Asia said here.

QAPCO was able to secure permission to open an office here as well, although Indian laws allow only one representative office to foreign companies in each region. Establishing an office in Gujarat was “not an easy task” since the company already had an office in Mumbai in the western region. “We had to pursue an exceptional licensing process, which has succeeded, thanks to the understanding and cooperation of the Indian licensing authorities,” said Dr Mohammed Yousef Al-Mulla, General Manager and Board Director of QAPCO.

The company, which entered India in 2004 and has offices at Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai, opened its fourth liaison office in Ahmedabad where it hopes to market its products to sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture and food packaging, he said at a press conference.

The company has become the first international petrochemical supplier of ethylene, sulphur, polyethylene, gas and other products, operating a full-fledged office in Gujarat. He, however, declined to comment when asked about the global scenario for petrochemicals, particularly in respect of falling prices of petrochemicals, chemicals and other products due to industrial slowdown, saying that such business cycles werenormal.

“Prices should be neither too high nor too low,” he added. QAPCO, which has five regional warehouses in West Asia and China, may open its sixth warehouse in India, Dr Al-Mulla said. QAPCO is a leading producer of quality ethylene and low density polyethylene in West Asia.