Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) and Shell Eastern Petroleum have sealed agreements under which QPI takes stakes in two Shell Chemicals joint ventures in Singapore, its first overseas downstream acquisition, the companies said on Wednesday.   

Under the deal, to be completed by December, Shell will sell its existing shareholdings in two companies to a new joint venture called QPI and Shell Petrochemicals (Singapore) (QSPS).   

Through the venture, QPI and Shell will effectively hold 50 percent of the Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (PCS) and 30 percent of The Polyolefin Company (Singapore) (TPC).   

'Qatar Petroleum's goal is to become a major player in the global energy industry,' said Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah Al-Attiyah in a statement.

'Qatar is a significant and fast-growing producer of chemical feedstocks. Extending our reach further into petrochemicals in the crucial Asia-Pacific region will help us achieve our ambitious global goals.'    

Other shareholders in PCS and TPC are respectively Japan Singapore Petrochemical Company (JSPC) and Nihon Singapore Polyolefin Company (NSPC), both Japanese consortia led by Sumitomo Chemical.

This joint venture deal is part of a wider strategic cooperation that Shell has been developing with Qatar. QPI, Shell and PetroChina are assessing the viability of building a world-scale, integrated refinery and petrochemical manufacturing complex in China.   

Shell also continues to develop with QPI proposals for a world-scale petrochemicals complex in Qatar.  -Reuters