APIC '07: PetroRabigh investments due by year end

18 May 2007 08:37  [Source: ICIS news]

TAIPEI (ICIS news)--Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical will make a final decision on further investments at their mega PetroRabigh venture by the end of this year, Hiromasa Yonekura, president of Sumitomo Chemical, said on Friday.

He added that under consideration was further ethane cracking and downstream capacity but stressed that no final decisions had been made on the product slate.

Already under construction is a 1.3m tonne/year ethane cracker and 900,000 tonnes/year of propylene, which will  due to be produced through high severity cracking. The complex, which also includes a refinery upgrade and downstream plants, is due on stream in 2008-09.

Yonekura would not be drawn on what products are being evaluated for expansion. Earlier press reports, however, indicated that the joint venture is evaluating polyurethane, methyl methacrylate, polymethylmethacrylate and polycarbonate plants.

Saudi Arabia is diversifying its derivative production in order to generate more employment.

The president, who was speaking on the sidelines of the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC), added that Japan had to move up the value chain in order to compete with the Middle East when the next big wave of capacity comes onstream in 2009-10.

By: John Richardson
+65 6780 4359

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