By Robert Tuttle – Dec 4, 2011 3:54 PM GMT
Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) signed a heads of agreement to develop a petrochemicals plant in the Gulf country for an estimated cost of $6.4 billion.
State-run Qatar Petroleum will have an 80 percent stake in the project and Shell the remainder, the companies said today in Doha. They plan to sign a final joint-venture agreement by the end of next year or early in 2013, Qatari Oil Minister Mohammed al-Sada told reporters in the countrys capital. The project would be completed in 2017, he said.