Corrected: GPCA '10: Shell to expand Sadaf joint venture in Saudi Arabia

09 December 2010 08:35  [Source: ICIS news]

Correction: In the ICIS news story headlined "GPCA '10: Shell to expand Sadaf joint venture in Saudi Arabia" dated 9 December 2010, please read in the second last paragraph "... each have a 24.5% stake ..." instead of "... each have a 34.5% stake ...". A corrected story follows. 

DUBAI (ICIS)--Energy major Shell is considering an expansion to its Sadaf joint venture (JV) with SABIC in Saudi Arabia, a regional industry association newsletter quoted a senior company executive as saying on Thursday.

SABIC and Shell are studying ways to expand their Sadaf JV in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, "provided the partners can secure enough feedstock", Iain Lo, Shell Chemicals' vice president for new business development and ventures, told Forum News Daily.

Forum News Daily is the official newsletter of the 5th Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) forum being held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

Sadaf is a 50:50 JV between SABIC and Pecten Arabian Company, a subsidiary of Shell.

Projects under consideration include polyurethanes (PU), polyols and alpha-olefins, Lo told the newsletter.

Sadaf produces ethylene, crude industrial ethanol, styrene, caustic soda, ethylene dichloride and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), according to the SABIC website.

Shell does not have PU in its product line-up, but is a big player in polyols and sells toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) under a long-term agreement, Forum News Daily said.

The company's plan in Saudi Arabia is part of three projects being pursued by Shell.

The company recently confirmed that it planned to develop a petrochemicals complex in Qatar.

"We are actively in discussions with Qatar Petroleum for a world-scale petrochemical complex at Ras Laffan," Lo said.

"We are building on the letter of intent that we signed with QP [Qatar Petroleum] in 2006 and taking that forward," he added.

Shell and Qatar Petroleum are in discussions with PetroChina for a greenfield investment in Taizhou, China, Lo told the newsletter.

The Taizhou project, 51% owned by state-run PetroChina, was still in the feasibility-study stage and was likely to be completed early next year, it said.

Shell and Qatar Petroleum each have a 24.5% stake in the joint venture.

GPCA’s three-day annual forum runs through 7-9 December.

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By: Nurluqman Suratman

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