Saudi Arabia's NatPet pre-markets PP

02 August 2007 05:02  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Saudi Arabia's National Petrochemical Industrial Co (NatPet) has begun pre-marketing activity in key export markets ahead of the start-up of its new 400,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) complex at Yanbu later this year, a senior company official said on Thursday.

"Work on the project is progressing well, and we are well on track to begin commercial production in December," said Jamal Malaikah, the company's vice president.

Propylene feedstock for the 400,000 tonne/year PP plant would come from the propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant with the same capacity at the complex.

The company expected to sell good volumes of PP in Saudi Arabia, where demand was expected to show double digit growth in the next few years, the source said.

"The consumption of PP in Saudi Arabia is estimated to total more than 500,000 tonnes in 2007," he said.

The Asia Pacific region, where demand was expected to grow by 10% each year, would be a key export market, he said. PP exports will also head to Europe where demand was to grow 2-3% per year in addition to other Middle East countries, he added.

The company will produce copolymers in addition to homopolymers, where the PP plant is using Basell’s Spheripol technology.

The primary investors in the $750m (€547.5m) NatPet complex are Saudi Arabia's Alujain Corp and the Xenel Group. Noble Resources, a global supply chain manager of polymer resins, is also an investor in the project.

($1=€0.73)

By: Prema Viswanathan
+65 6780 4359

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