Sumitomo, Saudi Aramco break ground on PetroRabigh

20 March 2006 02:18  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Sumitomo Chemical, a Japanese petrochemical major, said on Monday that it broke ground on its joint-venture project in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co (PetroRabigh), a 50:50 joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical, was set up to operate the $9.8bn (Euro8.2bn) project in Rabigh.

When completed, the complex will have an 18.4m tonne/year refinery and an ethane cracker that can produce 1.3m tonne/year of ethylene. It would also have the capacity to produce 900,000 tonne/year of propylene, 750,000-900,000 tonne/year of linear low-density polyethylene (lldPE), 700,000 tonne/year of polypropylene (PP), as well as propylene oxide (PO), monoethylene glycol (MEG) and alpha-olefins.

“The actual construction of the project will now commence and it is on schedule for completion in the third quarter of 2008,” it added.

JGC Corp was awarded a lump sum turnkey contract to build the ethane cracker and a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit. It also won a contract to build, own and operate a fuel oil-fired cogeneration and desalination plant for the proposed complex.

Mitsui Engineering won the contracts to build the 600,000 tonne/year MEG unit and the 200,000 tonne/year PO unit.

PetroRabigh concluded financing arrangements for the project in early March. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation is to provide $2.5bn for the project, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia $1bn, and the rest by 17 financial institutions.

By: Florence Tan
+65 6780 4359

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