Dow, Aramco Ras Tanura plant to proceed - report

09 May 2007 22:38  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Dow Chemical and state oil company Saudi Aramco could sign an agreement for a world-scale petrochemical project in the near future, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The project will be integrated with an existing refinery complex in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, that has a capacity of 550,000bbl/day.

Reuters reported that Aramco would make an announcenment on Saturday with a business partner.

Dow would not comment about the Reuters report.

Aramco did not respond to email on Wednesday.

Saudi Aramco announced in July that it had selected Dow as a potential partner to engage in exclusive negotiations concerning the joint venture.

Both companies were expected last month to make a detailed announcement about the size of the project, timing and costs. But a delay had fueled speculation that spiralling construction costs may have blunted talks between both sets of management and suppliers who are bidding for project management services contracts.

Research by consultants Nexant ChemSystems indicated that a world-scale ethylene cracker costs $4bn ((€2.96bn) to build, compared with around $1.5bn in 2000.

($1.00 = €0.74)

ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009

Author: Al Greenwood
+1 713 525 2653

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