MOSCOW (MRC) -- Advanced Global Investment Co. (AGIC), a subsidiary of Advanced Petrochemical Co. (APC), has let a contract to Fluor Corp. to provide project management consulting (PMC) for the operator’s proposed propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) complex at APC’s existing operations in Jubail Industrial City, on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast, according to Oi&Gas Journal.
As part of the contract, Fluor will deliver PMC services for front-end engineering design, detailed engineering, procurement, and construction phases of the project, including associated utilities and off sites, Fluor said on May 14.
Once completed, AGIC’s complex will produce 843,000 tonnes/year of propylene and 800,000 tpy of PP that will be used for production of specialty polymers by manufacturers in the face mask, automotive, pipes, food packaging, and textiles industries, according to the service provider.
Fluor, which booked its portion of the undisclosed contract value in first-quarter 2020, said it will execute the project from its offices in Farnborough, UK, and Al Kobar, Saudi Arabia, with support from the firm’s global network.
Award of the PMC contract follows AGIC’s Mar. 27 signing of a shareholders agreement with SK Gas Co. Ltd. subsidiary SK Gas Petrochemical Pte. Ltd. (SKGP) to establish a joint venture named Advanced Polyolefins Co. (APC JV) for construction and operation of the proposed PDH-PP complex, according to a Mar. 29 release from APC.
At a total estimated cost of about USD1.8 billion, the planned PDH-PP project will be financed 25% by equity of shareholders, while APC JV will finance the remaining 75% via borrowing from lenders, APC said. AGIC will hold 85% interest in APC JV, with SKGP to hold the remaining 15% stake.
APC also confirmed AGIC has already awarded a series of contracts for technology to be implemented at the proposed PDH-PP complex. Lummus Technology LLC will deliver licensing for its proprietary CATOFIN technology for the PDH plant, while LyondellBasell Industries NV subsidiary Basell Poliolefine Italia SRL will license its proprietary Spherizone and Spheripol technologies for the complex’s two PP plants, each of which will have a capacity of 400,000 tpy, APC said.
APC said APC JV expects to begin construction in 2021 on the new PDH-PP complex - which will receive its main feedstock of propane from Saudi Aramco under a long-term contract - for a targeted start-up of operations by second-half 2024.
APC currently produces 455,000 tpy of propylene and 450,000 tpy of PP at its existing Jubail Industrial City plants, according to the company’s website.
As MRC informed before, in September 2019, SK Advanced signed a joint venture agreement with South Korea’s Polymerae Ltd. to establish a polypropylene plant in South Korea with an annual design capacity of 400,000 metric tons. The facility is expected to launch commercial operations in 2021.
Propylene is the main feedstock for the producion of polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market was 267,630 tonnes in January-March 2020, down 20% year on year. Homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers accounted for the main decrease in imports.
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