MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia’s Oil Ministry has allocated an additional 10m cbf/d (2.8m cbm) of ethane to Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co (Al Jubail / Saudi Arabia) to enable an expansion of capacity at its Al Jubail complex, said Plasteurope.
The company plans to widen its ethylene production by at least 93,000 t/y and its ethylene oxide capacity by 61,000 t/y from the second quarter of 2017.
With the increased ethane supply, Saudi Kayan – majority-owned by petrochemicals giant Sabic (Riyadh) and Al Kayan Petrochemical – will be able to reduce its dependence on butane gas feedstock. Also as part of the agreement, Sabic will lower the marketing fees it charges Saudi Kayan, saving the company SAR 280m (USD 74.6m) in 2015 and SAR 600m a year once the projects are completed.
As MRC wrote earlier, Saudi Kayan, Sadara Chemical and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC) have joined forces to establish a new company, which will build the first butanol plant in the Middle East and the largest in the world. The Saudi Butanol Company, which will produce butanol to support the growth of the paints and coatings industry in Saudi Arabia, will be located at Tasnee Petrochemicals Complex in Jubail Industrial City and operated by Tasnee.
Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company is a manufacturing affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic).MRC