Sabic pledges to invest in DSM petrochemical assets

03 April 2002 13:07  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) vowed on Wednesday to invest in the European petrochemical facilities it has just agreed to buy from Dutch group DSM.

Mohamed Al-Mady, Sabic vice chairman and managing director, told a press conference in Amsterdam that his company planned to pursue a growth strategy for its assets in Europe.

Under today's agreement in principle to pay Euro2.25bn ($1.96bn) for DSM's petrochemicals business, Sabic will acquire extensive production facilities at Geleen in The Netherlands and Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Responding to a question about the need to invest to remain competitive, Al-Mady pledged to invest at Geleen and at its other sites in Europe.

DSM had contemplated investment in expanding its approximately 1.2m tonne/year of cracking capacity at Geleen. However, following the economic downturn and the decision to divest its petrochemicals business, DSM last year put on hold plans to expand ethylene capacity by around 500 000 to 550 000 tonne/year. It also froze proposals to build an approximately 400 000 tonne/year low density polyethylene (ldPE) facility at the site. Both projects were originally due onstream in 2004. A separate polypropylene (PP) project at Geleen is, though, under construction. The approximately 350 000 tonne/year plant is due onstream early in 2004.

Although Al-Mady stopped short of endorsing specifically the shelved expansion plans at Geleen, he stressed that Sabic would continue investing to maintain a competitive edge and to achieve its goal of becoming a world leader in basic chemicals.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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