SABIC to focus on value-added polymers

19 April 2008 00:01  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) plans to focus more on value-added polymers to meet changing customer requirements, according to a senior company executive.

"We want to provide a total solution to our polymer customers by offering a mix of bulk and speciality grades. In the process we also hedge against the risk of over exposure to cyclical markets," said Abdulsalam Al-Mazro, SABIC's vice president, polymers, on the sidelines of this week’s Chinaplas exhibition.

SABIC plans to focus on items such as bio-degradable and recyclable products and bi-modal high density polyethylene (HDPE) products, Al-Mazro said.

An additional impetus for producing bio-degradable polymers was the growing concern in all countries to minimise environmental pollution. "The project is still at a conceptual stage, so no details are available," Al-Mazro said.

Meanwhile, in the third quarter of 2008, SABIC will bring on stream 400,000 tonnes/year of bi-modal HDPE pipe, as part of the Yansab project at Yanbu. This will be the first bi-modal HDPE pipe plant in Saudi Arabia. And in 2010, the company will start up an 800,000 tonne/year bi-modal HDPE plant at the Saudi Kayan project at Al Jubail, downstream of a 1.3m tonne/year cracker which will go on stream at the same time.

In addition, SABIC will expand bi-modal HDPE capacity at its Gelsenkirchen complex in Germany to 250,000 tonnes/year from 150,000 tonnes/year by the end of this year, Al-Mazro said.

"Total world capacity for this grade is around 5m tonnes/year. However, demand is growing globally by 5-6% annually, which is higher than the 4.6-5% overall demand growth for PE," he said.

In the Middle East demand growth for this grade was as high as 10%/year, compared with 7-10%/year for general PE grades, he added.

One of the advantages of these bi-modal grades (PE 100 and PE 80) is their durability, said Al-Mazro. "If you replace metal pipes with bi-modal HDPE, they will last much longer. What is more they are heat resistant and can be used to supply hot water in buildings as well as to transport gas," he said.

By: Prema Viswanathan
+65 6780 4359

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