LyondellBasell Mideast JVs unaffected – Tasnee/Sahara

12 January 2009 07:04  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--The Middle East operations of embattled chemical giant LyondellBasell were largely unaffected by its decision to file for bankruptcy protection in the US, the company's joint venture partners said on Sunday.

"LyondellBasell’s filing of bankruptcy protection does not apply to operations in the rest of the world, which is still continuing work as usual," the National Industrialisation Co (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemicals said in separate disclosures to the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange.

Sahara Petrochemical said "there will be no impact on operations related to projects" it has with LyondellBasell.

Tasnee currently operates a 400,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant at Al Jubail through a joint venture with LyondellBasell and plans to increase that capacity early this year by 250,000 tonnes/year.

LyondellBasell also has a stake in Saudi Ethylene and Polyethylene Co’s (SEPC) new 1m tonne/year cracker and 400,000 tonne/year high density polyethyene (HDPE) plant in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, that begun commercial operations in November 2008.

SEPC is a joint venture of Sahara Olefins Co with 24.4% equity, National Industrialisation Co (Tasnee) with 50.6% and LyondellBasell holding the remaining 25%.

Sahara Petrochem is the parent unit of Sahara Olefins Co.

The US Bankruptcy court approved up to $100m (€74.5) in emergency financing for LyondellBasell to keep it from liquidating on 8 January. The company is also separately arranging up to $8bn in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to fund continuing operations.

($1= €0.74)

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By: Bohan Loh
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