Qatar Petroleum (QP) has invited companies to bid for development and operation contracts for a new petrochemicals complex at Ras Laffan Industrial City, Reuters reported.

The new petrochemicals complex will house an ethane cracker to convert the chemical to ethylene, with a capacity of more than 1.6 million tons per year, making it the largest in the Middle East.

No details have been given on the timeline of the bidding process.

The complex and derivative plants are scheduled to be operational by 2025.

Ethane feedstock for the complex will be primarily produced from QP’s new North Field expansion project. The facility is projected to produce an additional 23 million tons each year of LNG, from which ethane is extracted.

Qatar resumed the development of its North Field in April 2017 after it halted operations in 2005 to allow studies to conducted on the reservoir, according to Reuters.

Qatar, along with other Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is expanding its downstream refinery and petrochemicals businesses to capitalize on the expanding markets and provide additional revenue streams beyond upstream oil and gas.