Ras Tanura petchem project delay likely to be short - source

31 March 2010 17:31  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--The giant Saudi Aramco/Dow Chemical Ras Tanura petrochemicals project in Saudi Arabia is likely to be delayed while the current and alternative locations are assessed, an Aramco source confirmed late on Tuesday.

The delay is likely to be relatively short, however, and not the five years implied in recent media reports, the source said.

The reports had suggested Al Jubail, on Saudi Arabia’s east coast, and Ras al Zour as alternative locations. Ras Tanura is on the coast south of Al Jubail.

Locating the project at Ras Tanura would involve heavy infrastructure costs, sources in Saudi Arabia said this week.

Re-locating the mega-project, which would likely involve three phases and the production of an array of petrochemical intermediates, would be costly and raise feedstock supply issues.

Integration with Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery is seen as a key feature of the planned complex.

Consultants at this week’s NPRA International Petrochemical Conference said they had pushed speculative completion of the first phase of the project out to 2016-2017.

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By: Nigel Davis
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