GPCA '09: Sharq cracker to begin commercial production in Jan

10 December 2009 16:22  [Source: ICIS news]

DUBAI (ICIS news)--Eastern Petrochemical Co(Sharq) is expected to achieve commercial production at its new 1.3m tonne/year cracker at Al Jubail in January 2010, SABIC CEO Mohamed Al-Mady said on Thursday.

Sharq is a joint venture between SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp) and Saudi Petrochemical Development Corp (SPDC), a consortium of Japanese companies led by the Mitsubishi Group.

"The cracker is already in the midst of start-up, but commercial output is not expected until January," Al-Mady said, speaking on the sidelines of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) forum.

However, the new Sharq cracker's downstream polyolefin plants have already started up, he said. The new high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density PE (LLDPE) plants both have a capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year.

The two plants were not running at full rates currently due to shortage of ethylene feedstock, but will be ramped up after the new cracker starts up, a source close to the joint venture said.

The three-day forum ends on Thursday.

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By: Prema Viswanathan
+65 6780 4359

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