Saudi's Sipchem to proceed with new cracker
25 May 2006 04:51 [Source: ICIS news]
RIYADH (ICIS news)--Saudi International Petrochemical (Sipchem) has secured gas supply for its cracker project, ensuring that the project will proceed, a company source said on Wednesday.
The allocation of ethane and propane feedstock had not been certain, with as many as 14 private and Sabic cracker projects bidding for 4-5 parcels of gas supply in the Ministry of Petroleum's current round of allocations.
“Without feedstock, a project is only theoretical. The government allocated gas to us several months ago,” the Sipchem source said.
The round is due to be concluded over the next few months, with the next round of allocations likely to take place in three years’ time.
Ethane is set to remain in short supply in the Kingdom. This is the result of the large number of petrochemical projects already on stream, while future gas supply will be from dedicated gas fields with a low proportion of ethane.
Most of the existing investments in
The ethane shortage also means that all the next wave of Saudi crackers will be mixed feed - ethane, propane and/or butane. In addition, Saudi Aramco has plans to build as many as four naphtha crackers in the country.
The privately-owned Sipchem cracker is due on stream in 2010 with a planned capacity of 1.2m tonnes/year, with the downstream units set to start-up the following year. The downstream units will include a 175,000-200,000 tonnes/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant and a polyethylene (PE) facility.
By: John Richardson
+65 6780 4359
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