SAUDI ARABIA - Teldene-2.

The same 50-50 venture between Natpet and Montell is to have a second complex in Yanbu' to produce 250,000 t/y of PP. This should be on stream by 2004. The propylene feedstock will come from an adjacent Saudi Aramco ExxonMobil Refinery Co. (Samref).

Alujain Corp., a private promoter of industries based in Jeddah, is involved in a wide range of businesses. It was set up with the intention of acting like a private sector parallel to SABIC, but on a much smaller scale.

Another Alujain project in Yanbu' is a 900,000 t/y iso-octane plant to be built as a JV formed in Jan. 2001 with Noble Americas, part of the Noble Group of the US. This was proposed to replace a 900,000 t/y MTBE plant in Yanbu', Saudi Arabia's first such private sector venture called Tahseen which was to cost $415m. In 1997 Neste of Finland (now Fortum) and Ecofuel of Italy - the partners of SABIC in the major MTBE producer Ibn Zahr (see DT No. 18) - joined Tahseen with a 15% stake each. Iso-octane, like MTBE, is an antioxidant used in lead-free gasoline. But marketing studies for the iso-octane and MTBE options continue to drag on as the planned phase-out of MTBE in California by end-2002 now seems likely to be delayed.

Xenel Industries is controlled by Khalid Alireza, of the prominent Alireza clan. Xenel has interests in petrochemicals and other downstream industries in the kingdom, as well as abroad including a share in a power venture in Pakistan (see Gas Market Trends). Xenel also has shares in Saudi French Hydrocarbon Solvents Company, which has a 70,000t/y plant in Yanbu' set up by Saudi investors and TotalFinaElf of France (10%).

Saudi Polyolefins Co. (SPC), set up in Nov. 2000 by National Industrialisation Co. (NIC) affiliate National Petrochemical Industries Co. (NPIC - also set up in Nov. 2000) and Basell, is having the world's largest propane dehyrogenation complex built in Jubail to produce 450,000 t/y of PP by late 2002. The project manager is Raytheon Engineers and Constructors. ABB Lummus Global of the US is providing its Catofin process for the propylene plant. Basell is providing the technology for the PP unit. The EPC contractor is a partnership of ABB Lummus Global and Samsung Engineering of South Korea. NPIC holds 75% in SPC, with Basell having 25% Apart from NIC, main NPIC shareholders include Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries & Medical Appliances Corp. (Spimanco) and Olayan Financing Co. SPC has secured a soft loan of SR400m ($107m) from SIDF. It will seek commercial borrowing from local and international banks, with the

SPC has a long-term propane purchase contract with Saudi Aramco. It is buying

a share in a 70-km pipeline which carries propane feedstock from Saudi Aramco's Juaymah plant just north of Ras Tanura to SABIC's propylene unit of Petrokemya in Jubail (see DT 18) which is adjacent to SPC's.

SPC has been considering the possibility of having a unit at its complex to produce acrylic acid, which would reduce the volume PP for sale. There are also proposals for the complex to have units producing other propylene derivatives at a later stage.

The National Industrialisation Co. (NIC) was founded in 1985 to promote industrial development by the Saudi private sector. The most prominent NIC shareholder, with 30%, is Prince Alwaleed Ibn Talal Ibn Abdel Aziz, a business tycoon who from his mother's side is the grandson of Lebanon's first prime minister after independence, the late Riad Al Solh. NIC's CEO, Moayyed Al Qurtas, is a former SABIC executive who brought new ideas NIC.

National Titanium Dioxide Co. (Cristal): This company's plant at Yanbu' is being expanded, with new units to produce soda and other items for export by late 2001. A $40m expansion contract won in Sept. 1999 by Simon Carves of the UK, includes construction of a dedicated chlor alkali unit to produce chlorine for use in Cristal's downstream titanium dioxide process.

In Oct. 2000 Kerr-McGee of Oklahoma City sold its 25% stake in Cristal to its partners, NIC and Gulf Investment Corp.