MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and ExxonMobil Chemical have set out their plans to add maximum value to the SR12.75 billion elastomers project at Jubail industrial city that is currently under construction, according to GV.
Simon Holmes, spokesman for Saudi elastomers industry development at ExxonMobil, said that this is a new area of products and it brings a lot of opportunity for the conversion industry.
When completed, the facility will produce about 400,000 tonnes a year of carbon black, rubber and thermoplastic specialty polymers.
"The plant will use ExxonMobil technology and the products will be sold on local and international markets."
The technical packages under construction are: carbon black, methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), polybutadiene rubber (PBR), halobutyl rubber plant (HRP).
Holmes said: "It is not just a question of serving Saudi Arabia. It is also a question of feeding the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and even some countries in Africa. You can’t build a small plant that will only ‘serve the village’ in todays’ markets, you need a large facility."
The project will be constructed at the Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (Kemya) complex in Jubail, which is a 50:50 joint venture of Sabic and ExxonMobil.
As MRC reported previously, the project will be completed by 2015 as per current estimates.
This is not the first time that Sabic and ExxonMobil have come together. These two companies have had a joint venture since 1980 when they produced polyethylene, ethylene and propylene.
MRC