Saudi Arabia's SIIG eyes financial closure early '07

01 November 2005 04:07  [Source: ICIS news]

By Malini Hariharan

MUMBAI (ICIS news)--The Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) expects to achieve financial closure of its 1.2m tonne/year cracker project at Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, by late 2006 or early 2007, a company official said.

The project, a 50:50 joint venture with Chevron Phillips and called National Chevron Phillips, is slated for start-up in the fourth quarter of 2009, he added.

“The project is likely to cost around $3bn but the final figure is not yet settled as we have seen a significant increase in the cost of materials such as steel in the past year. Every contractor is in high demand and so engineering costs have also risen,” said the official.

“The derivative slate is still being reviewed. But high density polyethylene (hdPE), linear low density PE (lldPE), hexane, polystyrene (PS) and polypropylene (PP) are likely to be produced downstream of the cracker,” the official said.

He also confirmed that the company had received a commitment from Saudi state-run oil and gas giant Saudi Aramco for supply of ethane and propane.

He declined to confirm a media report that a front-end engineering and design package for the complex had been awarded to Parsons E&C. He also clarified that SIIG had not changed its name. ICIS news had been told in September 2005 that the company had been renamed Chemical Investment Group.

Meanwhile, SIIG’s 50:50 joint-venture $1.2bn integrated styrene project with Chevron Phillips at Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, is on schedule and is due for completion in the third quarter of 2007, said the source.

The project, which will be operated by Jubail Chevron Phillips Co, includes a 730,000 tonne/year styrene plant, an ethyl benzene unit which will be fed by a 300,000 tonne/year cracker. The cracker will also produce 140,000 tonne/year of propylene.

An existing benzene plant operated by the two companies at the same site is also being expanded. Engineering and procurement for the styrene project is being carried out by Japan’s JGC Corp.

 

 

 

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Author: Malini Hariharan
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