Saudi Arabia pushes for integrated petchem development

29 September 2005 14:37  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) will push for an integrated petrochemical industry in Saudi Arabia, Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, director general for the authority's energy sector, said here on Thursday.

The majority of upstream petrochemical output from planned projects will be used captively to produce downstream products, he said at a meeting on Saudi Arabian petrochemical investment opportunities organised by the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry. 

Al-Sadoun predicted a 113% growth in the kingdom's ethylene production over the next three years, although he gave no current output figures..

Downstream diversification would include the production of intermediates such as acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), bisphenol-A (BPA), propylene oxide (PO), butadiene, isobutylene, cyclohexane and caprolactam.

The development of export-oriented plastics conversion would include polyvinyl acetate (PVA), polycarbonate (PC), epoxy resins, polyols, urethanes, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene acrylonitrile (SAN), methyl methacrylate (MMA), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and nylon clusters (nylon 6,6 and nylon 6).

"Why should we ship resins made in Saudi Arabia to China?" Al-Sadoun said. "We need to drive substantial growth in Saudi Arabia’s plastic conversion through exports."

By: Hilde Ovrebekk
+44 20 8652 3214

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