Arabian Industrial Fibres Co. (Ibn Rushd).

This was formed as a joint stock venture in December 1995, with SABIC holding 51.7%. Its capital of SR3 bn ($800m), divided into 30m SR100 shares, were fully subscribed and paid. An aromatics complex and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at Yanbu' came on stream in 1998 and marked the beginning of a new industry in Saudi Arabia, that of polyester textiles and carpets and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles. The complex uses the Cyclar process and produces 350,000 t/y of benzene, 300,000 t/y of paraxylene, 45,000 t/y of orthoxylene and 35,000 t/y of meta-xylene. About 160,000 t/y of the benzene is sold to the first Saudi cumene plant to start up in late 1999.