MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC, along with Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group Co. Ltd. (SNCG) and the government of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China, have agreed on a set of principles for cooperation in the further development of a potential joint venture (JV) between SABIC and SNCG to build a greenfield coal-to-chemicals complex, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The facility will focus on highly-differentiated applications and segments through polymers derivatives.
The project will be located in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The agreement includes certain commitments from the Ningxia government to provide support and incentives to the project, while also providing a framework for coordination and cooperation between the three parties in connection with the project approval process.
Cooperation between the parties, with respect to the coal-to-chemicals project, contributes to the Chinese government’s "Belt & Road Initiative," expanding the economic ties and bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of China.
The project would leverage the shareholders’ respective best practices, operational experience, and technologies in the petrochemical industry.
The project would benefit from SABIC’s participation through the utilization of SABIC’s technologies, and access to SABIC’s global Technology & Innovation Centers would be provided for product development, technical support and application development programs. SABIC would also leverage its global marketing and customer service capabilities.
The project would also benefit from the participation of SNCG, which is an affiliate of Shenhua Group, one of the largest coal producers and suppliers in China, as well as a global coal-based, integrated energy and chemicals company.
A further benefit is the project’s location in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, which is one of the largest coal-producing regions in China, and the incentives and support that will be provided by the Ningxia government.
As MRC reported earlier, in July 2016, SABIC and the Korean petrochemical company, SK Global Chemical, successfully concluded negotiations for a 50-50 joint venture that will purchase the unique Nexlene solution technology and a plant that manufactures a range of high-performance Ethylene/Alpha-Olefin copolymers products in Ulsan, Republic of Korea.
The joint venture holding company, SABIC SK Nexlene Company (SSNC) is headquartered in Singapore. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Korea Nexlene Company (KNC), owns the plant in Ulsan, which has an annual capacity of 230,000 tons. The parties intend to further expand capacity with the construction and operation of additional plants globally. The plant will produce metallocene based linear low-density polyethylene, polyolefin plastomers, and polyolefin elastomers to meet the growing needs of diverse industries such as flexible packaging, industrial and agricultural film, automotive, consumer products (footwear), medical, and construction.
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the worldпїЅs top petrochemical companies. The company is among the worldпїЅs market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
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