SABIC, Sipchem unveil major petchems expansion plan

London - Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and the Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) covering a range of projects to produce speciality petrochemical products. The projects, they said, are subject to the completion of economic studies and legal procedures.

Under the deal, SABIC will invest around $3.2 billion to establish several new petrochemical projects in Saudi Arabia, including seven plants for the production of 250ktpa of methylmethacrylate (MMA), 30ktpa of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), 200ktpa of acrylonitrile, 50ktpa of polyacrylonitrile, 50ktpa of polyacetals, 3ktpa of carbon fibre and 40ktpa of sodium cyanide.

For its part, Sipchem will build two plants at a preliminary estimated cost of $810 million for the production of 125 ktpa of polyvinyl acetate and 200 ktpa of ethylene vinyl acetate. These plants are expected to go on-stream by mid 2013.

SABIC is crack the feedstock allocated to Sipchem and also provide it with ethylene. A Sipchem will supply carbon monoxide to SABIC for the production of MMA.