Saudi petchems needs more private investment - PMD

29 September 2005 16:29  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--More private petrochemical companies and investors are needed to achieve Saudi Arabia target of boosting petrochemical sales from $20bn to $100bn (Euro83bn) by 2020, Majed Al-Ahmadi, president and chief executive of privately owned Project Management & Development (PMD), said on Thursday.

“One or two companies cannot achieve this goal on their own,” he added.

Gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) availability is limiting rapid horizontal growth of the Saudi petrochemical industry, Al-Ahmadi said. The solution would be “to use crude oil as feedstock for private sector integrated refineries and petrochemical projects”.

PMD is currently in the process of building a 6.5m tonne/year integrated refinery and olefins complex, which will have a capacity of marketable products of 2.6m tonne/year. The $3.5bn cracker project will use butane and ethane as feedstocks ultimately to produce polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), ethylene glycol (EG), bisphenol-A (BPA), amines and ethoxylates.

Speaking at a seminar on petrochemical investment strategy organised by the Saudi Arabia’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Al-Ahmadi said that contracts will be awarded before the end of this year for the project which is on schedule to start production in 2008.

By: Hilde Ovrebekk
+44 20 8652 3214

< previous article(ICIS Chemical Business podcast November 2, 2009)

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly