SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Petrochemical Co. (Sadaf).

Having started up in 1985, Sadaf is a 50-50 JV between SABIC and Shell Chemicals Arabia (a unit of Shell US). Sadaf has a complex at Jubail producing a variety of petrochemicals and this was expanded with a second grassroots styrene monomer plant having a capacity of 500,000 t/y which went on stream in 2000. A co-generation unit providing 500 t/h of steam to the new styrene plant and 260 MW of power to the whole complex was built as an IPP - called Jubail Energy Co. - owned by CMS Energy of the US (25%) and National Power Co. (75%) which is a 50-50 JV of the local AH al-Zamil Group and al-Seif Group. The IPP has started up recently. It is the first captive IPP in Saudi Arabia but the plant is selling surplus output to other users at Jubail.

The 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. Apart from this Sadaf has production facilities for: 1,2m t/y of ethylene, 560,000 t/y of ethylene dichloride, 360,000 t/y of styrene and 450,000 t/y of caustic soda. In February 1997, a 700,000 t/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. Technip-Coflexip is modernising five gas cracking furnaces at Sadaf's ethylene plant under a contract awarded in mid-June 2003.