Worley Parsons wins Sipchem polyolefins contract

20 November 2006 14:40  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) has awarded the project management contract for its proposed polyolefins complex at Jubail, Saudi Arabia to US-based Worley Parsons.

 

The company said in a statement sent to ICIS news on Monday that the proposed cracker was expected to produce around 1.3m tonnes/year of ethylene and propylene, which would be used as feedstock for the project’s high density polyethylene (PE), low density PE (ldPE), polypropylene (PP) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) plants.

 

Sipchem said it expected the start-up of the project in 2011.

 

As project management contractor Worley Parsons would undertake the overall management and detailed feasibility as well as other design work. The company did not disclose any financial details of the deal.

 

HSBC has been given the the financial advisory role for the project.

 

Sipchem and its potential partners - Mitsui, DuPont and Lucite – which have signed a feedstock allocation letter with Saudi Aramco, were currently working on the final agreements. These were expected to be signed in early 2007.

 

The complex would amount to 3m tonnes/year of 18 different products.

 

Abdulaziz Al-Zamil, chairman of Sipchem, said capacities of the entire $7bn (€5.5bn) petrochemicals complex at the site would consist of 20 worldscale plants and would employ more than 3,000 people, he added.

 

The company said the first phase of the development was completed, with two worldscale methanol and butanediol plants currently producing at maximum capacity.

 

As part of phase two of the development, construction of acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) and carbon monoxide plants started in the second half of 2006. The company said these plants would start production in late 2008 with a total capacity of 1.15m tonnes/year.

 

"With the launch of the ambitious phase III olefins and derivatives complex, Sipchem aims to be one of the largest private, fully integrated petrochemical complexes in the Middle East," the company said.

 

By: Mark Watts
+44 20 8652 3214

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