Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has announced that it expects kingdom’s first planned oil-to-chemicals plant at Yanbu to start operations by the end of 2020
SABIC added that it will use around 10mn tonnes of crude oil annually, or 200,000 bpd, as feedstock for the plant.
Development of the Saudi Arabian petrochemical sector is part of Riyadh’s strategy for diversifying the economy away from heavy dependence on crude export revenues, according to the chemical manufacturing company.
Ali al-Naimi, oil minister of Saudi Arabia, had said in March 2014 that the kingdom would build its first plant that would be able to turn crude oil directly into chemicals without having to refine it first, Reuters reported.
Chemical companies usually process gas or refined oil products into petrochemicals, such as ethylene and propylene, that are then used to make plastics and other products. Using oil as a feedstock is also more expensive than cracking gas, industry sources said.
ExxonMobil had started up the world’s first plant that processes crude oil into chemicals in Singapore last year.
