SABIC - The Main Companies.

The main SABIC companies, their ownership structures, products, capacities, and the expansions they are implementing, are listed below:

Saudi Petrochemical Co. (Sadaf): Started in 1984, Sadaf is a 50-50 JV between SABIC and Pecten Arabian Co. (a unit of Shell US). Sadaf, the biggest of SABIC's JVs, has a complex at Jubail producing a variety of petrochemicals and this was expanded with a second grassroots styrene monomer plant with a capacity of 500,000 t/y which went on stream in 2000. A $1 bn aromatics project based on the Cyclar process of BP/UOP for 520,000 t/y of benzene has been postponed. A co-generation unit to provide steam to the new styrene plant and 320 MW of power to the whole complex is to be built as an IPP to be owned by CMS Energy and the local AH Al-Zamil group. This will be the first captive IPP in Saudi Arabia as the plant will only supply one customer under a long-term contract.

The second styrene monomer plant is owned by Sadaf and Petrokemya (see below). It is the largest single-line styrene plant in the world. The basic engineering and technology licencing was done by ABB Lummus. The plant is using technology developed by ABB Lummus and UOP.

Sadaf currently has production facilities for: about 800,000 t/y of ethylene, 560,000 t/y of ethylene dichloride, 360,000yt/y of styrene and 450,000yt/y of caustic soda. In February 1997, a 700,000yt/y MTBE and ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE) plant was inaugurated at the Sadaf complex. This raised Saudi MTBE production capacity to 3.2m t/y, making the kingdom the biggest exporter of oxygenates. Sadaf is marketing the MTBE and ETBE in the US through Shell's network. The Sadaf complex has a unit producing more than 300,000 t/y of ethanol, a feedstock for ETBE.

Apart from benzene, the proposed aromatics complex will produce paraxylene, orthoxylene and toluene. A metaxylene unit will be added later. LPG feedstock will come from Saudi Aramco, while C7 and C8 will be supplied from the Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Co. (Sasref) in Jubail.

Saudi-Yanbu' Petrochemical Co. (Yanpet): Set up in 1980 at Yanbu', on the Red Sea coast, as a 50-50 JV between SABIC and Mobil (now ExxonMobil), Yanpet's production began in 1984 with an ethylene complex. It can produce 800,000 t/y of ethylene, almost 400,000 t/y of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and 430,000 t/y of HDPE. On Oct. 25, 1999, Saudi Crown Prince and acting ruler Abdullah Ibn Abdel Aziz inaugurated two units of Yanpet's second complex, built next to its existing facilities, which have a capacity of 535,000 t/y of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and 260,000 t/y of polypropylene.

The second olefins complex, called Yanpet-2 which cost $2.5 bn, went on stream in mid-2000 with a capacity of 800,000 t/y of ethylene. This is fed with up to 1m t/y of propane and has boosted Yanpet's ethylene capacity to more than 1.6m t/y. The cracker was built by ABB Lummus Global. A new 410,000 t/y ethylene glycol plant at Yanpet-2 was built by Toyo Corp. of Japan, raising Yanpet's capacity for this product to 660,000yt/y. A 125,000 t/y pyrolysis gasoline unit was also built. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan built the new HDPE and polypropylene units, which use Unipol technology licenced from Union Carbide. Yanpet capacity is 3.2myt/y of various products. Yanpet-2 is to be debottlenecked so its capacity is increased by 20%.

Arabian Petrochemical Co. (Petrokemya): Fully owned by SABIC, Petrokemya went on stream in Jubail in 1985. Its product range and capacities have been expanded since then. Its capacities include: 1.95m t/y of ethylene; 100,000 t/y of polystyrene; 70,000 t/y of benzene; 70,000 t/y of butadiene; 50,000 t/y of butene-1; and varying quantities of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM).

Its most recent expansion was an 800,000 t/y ethylene unit which came on stream in late 2000 with installation of eight furnaces. The unit, called OlefinsyIII, cost over $200m. Eastern Petrochemical Co. (Sharq) invested in this to secure feedstock for its new ethylene glycol (EG) plant. Petrokemya took 50% in the EG unit. With a Stone and Webster technology for propane cracking adopted Petrokemya now has flexibility in choosing between ethane and propane feedstocks. This has enabled it to produce up to 275,000 t/y of propylene, depending on the feed mix at any particular time. A new pipeline carries propane feedstock from Juaymah.

Petrokemya is to have an 800,000 t/y LLDPE/HDPE plant at the complex on stream before end-2002. It will be based on the Unipol process. Work on this was started recently by Toyo Engineering which won the contract in Jan. 2001. The deal has been revised because originally the project was to involve two separate units, one for LLDPE and another for HDPE, for JUPC.

Jubail United Petrochemical Co. (JUPC), set up in 2000 as a fully owned SABIC unit, is to have a $2 bn olefins complex to produce 800,000 t/y of ethylene, 460,000 t/y of EG and 100,000 t/y of alpha olefins. It should be on stream in the second quarter of 2004 and will be based on ethane. The $350m contract for the ethylene plant was to be awarded by mid-Oct. 2001.

JUPC is also to have a 30,000 t/y acetic acid plant built in Yanbu' based on technology developed independently by SABIC's R&D unit. JUPC now is evaluating three bids for this $80-85m project which is to be built within 30 months. The acid will go as a feedstock to Yanbu'-based Ibn Rushd's purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant. Once the technology has been proven, SABIC would have a world-scale 200,000 t/y AA plant built.

Al Jubail Petrochemical Co. (Kemya): The 50-50 ExxonMobil-SABIC complex began in 1984 to produce 615,000 t/y of LLDPE and 300,000 t/y of HDPE.

A flexible 700,000 t/y ethylene steamcracker, which can use up to 1m t/y of propane, raising LLDPE capacity by 250,000 t/y, and a new 218,000 t/y LDPE unit (Saudi Arabia's first high-pressure plant based on ExxonMobil process), came on stream in late Nov. 2000 and cost about $450m.

Eastern Petrochemical Co. (Al Sharq): This is a 50-50 JV of SABIC and Saudi

Petrochemical Development Co. (SPDC). SPDC is owned 45% by Japan Bank for International Cooperation  (JBIC), and 55% by 62 Japanese companies, mainly of the Mitsubishi group. It produces EG and LLDPE.

Al Sharq's first 452,000 t/y EG unit came on stream in 1985 and the second started up in 1993 with a capacity of 208,000 t/y. A 497,000 t/y EG unit (3EG) using a Shell technology started up in 2000. Feedstock for the third unit comes from Petrokemya. As Al Sharq invested in the expansion of Petrokemya, the latter took 50% in 3EG. Al Sharq's two LLDPE plants were in 2000 debottlenecked for a 300,000 t/y capacity increase.

National Plastic Co. (Ibn Hayyan): This is a JV of SABIC (71.5%) and Lucky Group of South Korea (28.5%). On stream in Jubail since 1986, it can produce 300,000 t/y of VCM and 200,000 t/y of PVC using ethylene and ethylene dichloride as feedstocks, and PVC paste. In 1996 it established Ibn Hayyan Plastic Products Co. with a capital of $27m. The shareholders are Ibn Hayyan (51%), Saudi Industrial & Commercial Agencies Co. (36%), Saudi Industries Development Co. (Tatweer, 10%) and Saudi Ceramic Co. (3%). The $100m plant, on stream in 1998, uses feedstock produced by Ibn Hayyan to make 3,200 t/y of synthetic leather, 3,060 t/y of wall paper, 10,500 t/y of floor tiles and 1,750 t/y of book covers.

Saudi Methanol Co. (Ar Razi), a 50-50 JV of SABIC and a Japanese group led by Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. (MGCC) in Jubail, started up in 1983. It has four chemical grade methanol plants with a capacity of 3.1m t/y, with the fourth 850,000 t/y unit on stream in Nov. 1999. Ar Razi, the biggest methanol complex in the world, brings Saudi methanol capacity to 4.5m t/y. Ar Razi's plants are based on MGCC's technology.

National Methanol Co. (Ibn Sina) is owned 50% by SABIC and 25% each by Pan Energy and Hoechst Celanese. Its complex at Jubail started up in 1984. It brought a 700,000yt/y MTBE plant on stream in April 1994. From then, the plant was able to produce more than 850,000 t/y. Ibn Sina has a capacity of 1m t/y of methanol.

Saudi-European Petrochemical Co. (Ibn Zahr): This JV is owned 70% by SABIC and 10% each by Fortum (Neste) of Finland, Ecofuel of Italy and Apicorp. It started operations in Jubail in 1988 with a 500,000 t/y MTBE plant. It currently produces 1.5m t/y of MTBE, having added a 700,000 t/y plant at its complex in 1993 and later raised that capacity by 300,000 t/y. It also produces 640,000 t/y of polypropylene (PP), with a 440,000 t/y expansion completed in 2000.

Arabian Industrial Fibres Co. (Ibn Rushd): This was formed as a joint stock venture in Dec. 1995, with SABIC holding 51.7%. Its capital of SR3ybn ($800m), divided into 30m SR100 shares, were fully subscribed and paid. An aromatics complex and a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at Yanbu' came on stream in 1998. It marked the beginning of a new industry in Saudi Arabia: polyester (190,000 t/y) for textiles and carpets, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. A 350,000 t/y second PTA plant came on stream in 2000, with 225,000 t/y being exported. A 250,000 t/y second PET plant started up earlier this year. The complex uses the Cyclar process and produces 350,000yt/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 benzene are sold to the first Saudi cumene plant on stream in late 1999. The polyester unit is to be debottlenecked to produce over 200,000 t/y.

Saudi Arabia Fertiliser Co. (Safco): Jubail-based, this is 41% owned by SABIC, 49% by Saudi investors and 10% Safco employees. Under a $400m contract signed on Feb.y25, 1997, Tecnimont has built two plants to produce 600,000 t/y of urea and 500,000 t/y of ammonia which went on stream in early 2000. This raised Safco's capacity to 1.5m t/y of urea and 1.2m t/y of ammonia. Safco started up in 1970 in Dammam with 330,000 t/y of urea, 200,000 t/y of ammonia and 100,000 t/y of sulphuric acid.

Al Jubail Fertiliser Co. (Samad): This is 50-50 SABIC-Taiwan Fertiliser JV started up in 1983 with 632,000 t/y of urea and 300,000 t/y of ammonia. The ammonia unit is being debottlenecked to raise output by 10% by end-2001. Similar work is to be done for the urea unit. Samad also produces 50,000 t/y of di-octyl phthalate (DOP) and 150,000 t/y of 2-ethyl hexanol (2-EH, one of DOP's main feedstocks).

National Chemical Fertiliser Co. (Ibn Al Baytar): A 50-50 SABIC/Safco JV, Ibn Baytar started up in 1987. From methane it produces 500,000 t/y of liquid ammonia, 500,000 t/y of granular urea, 500,000 t/y of NPK, 200,000 t/y of NSP, 100,000 t/y of di-ammonium phosphate and 10,000 t/y of liquid fertiliser. The ammonia unit is being debottlenecked to produce over 583,000 t/y from the first quarter of 2002.

United Jubail Fertiliser Co. is a JV between five SABIC firms, each holding 20%: Safco, Ibn Al Baytar, Ar Razi, Petrokemya, and National Industrial Gases Co. Its 500,000 t/y ammonia project at Safco's complex in Jubail has been deferred due to negative market conditions.