SAUDI BASIC INDUSTRIES Corporation (SABIC) and affiliates of ExxonMobil Chemical have signed a heads of agreement (HOA) and are finalising detailed studies for a new Elastomers project at their petrochemical joint ventures, Kemya and Yanpet. The agreement was signed by Mansour Al Kharboush, SABIC vicepresident, speciality products, and by Robert G. Hutchinson, vice-president chemicals, ExxonMobil Saudi Arabia Inc.
The HOA defines the principal terms for the proposed multibillion dollar project including project scope, technology, marketing and feedstock supply. The project would establish a domestic supply of over 400 KTA of carbon black, rubber and thermoplastic speciality polymers (EPDM, TPO, Butyl, SBR/PBR) to serve emerging local and international markets.
This project, which includes a vocational training institute and product application development and support centre as part of the scope, is aligned with Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Cluster Development Program which is responsible for accelerating growth and diversification of the manufacturing sector, including the automotive manufacturing industry.
The final decision to implement the project, which will require board of director approval for both joint ventures, is subject to the completion of more detailed studies of economic feasibility and the completion of all other statutory procedures. The new elastomers project would utilise additional feedstock allocated by the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, and additional feedstocks from other sources in the kingdom that will be processed at Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company (Yanpet) in Yanbu and Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (Kemya) in Jubail.
