Six Saudi industrial projects get USD 5.6bn go ahead

(constructionweekonline) -- Six industrial mega projects worth a total of USD 5.6bn have been approved for construction in Jubail by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu.


The deals were signed by Commission Chairman Prince Saud bin Abdullah Thunayyan, at Jubail Industrial City on Sunday, who said the projects are expected to generate huge employment opportunities for the region.


The largest deal is for the construction of a USD 3.2bn facility to produce ethylene propylene diene monomer, rubber and black carbon that are used in automobile industry. The deal was signed with the Al Jubail Petrochemical Company (Kemya), a joint venture between Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. The new factory will cover 32.7 hectares and supply automotive markets globally.


A second project, worth USD 800mln, was awarded to Jubail Chemical Industries Company (JANA) to set up an industrial complex for the expansion of existing industries and adding new products with an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons. These included products used in a number of downstream industries such as painting, leather and several chemical industries.Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (SIPCHEM) was allocated USD750mln for a factory that will produce ethylene vinyl acetate and low-density polyethylene. The plant will produce around 200,000 tonnes of the products annually once up and running. Another deal will see National Industrialization Co., or Tasnee, develop a USD 373mln plant that will produce 80,000 tonnes of super-absorbent polymers annually.

MRC

(constructionweekonline) -- Qatar Petroleum on Monday inked a massive USD5.5bn deal to build a build a new mega petrochemical complex at Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC), 80km north of the national capital Doha. The steam cracker plant will be used to refine natural gas feedstock from nearby producers in to plastics which will be marketed throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The plant will produce 1.4m metric tons per annum (MMTA) of ethylene, 850 thousand metric tons per annum (KMTA) of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), 430 KMTA of linear low-density polyethylene, 760 KMTA of polypropylene and 83 KMTA of butadiene.

QP and Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco) inked a Heads of Agreement (HoA) for the development of the plant. QP and Qapco will jointly develop the project with the former having 80%stake while Qapco's equity will be 20%. The plant is expected to be opertational by 2018.

MRC

(process-worldwid) -- Frost damages due to the extreme temperatures in Southern Europe have caused a loss of production for Serbian petrochemical company HIP Petrohemija. Now the firm announced a downtime at its Pancevo PE facility, due to force majeure.

A special meeting of HIP's Executive Board had previously decided to operate on technological minimum in all the plants of the company in Pancevo. Effects on the European commodity markets due to this polymer production loss are currently only regional.

A further problem for the industry in the Republic of Serbia is that the Danube, its main inland waterway, is frozen over and sipping traffic has stopped. With inland ports and terminals frozen, loading or unloading of vessels is currently not possible, HIP explained.

By the end of last week, HIP's production in its LDPE and Petroplast plants had been shut down due to electric power supply restrictions. Safety of production processes and of the employees wopuld not be affected by these measures, HIP speakers explained.

MRC

(domain-b) -- Dutch Petrochemicals giant LyondellBasell Industries has reported a net loss of USD218 million, or USD0.38 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2011, on the back of lower refining margins and charges related to the suspension of operations at its Berre refinery in France. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the October-December quarter of 2011 stood at USD536 million.

For the full year 2011, the company said its net income stood at USD2,140 million, or USD3.74 per share. LyondellBasell reported improved results across the majority of its portfolio, most notably in North American olefins and at the Houston refinery, both of which benefited from advantaged feedstocks for the year.The fourth-quarter and full-year results include the USD431 million impact of interest expense related to the company's refinancings and USD136 million of charges associated with the suspension of operations at the Berre refinery, LyondellBasell said.

MRC

(plasteurope) -- In an asset deal dated 1 January 2012, the French business unit of German surface technology specialist Surteco (Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhofen) acquired the plastics and veneer edges business of competitor Sodimo (Bohal / France). The takeover not only widens Surteco's existing customer base and product portfolio, it also strengthens its market position in France, Surteco holding company Dollken-Kunststoffverarbeitung (Gladbeck / Germany) announced.

Surteco France produces plastics and paper edges, veener strips and hotmelt adhesive systems, among others. Preparing for future growth, the company plans to expand its storage hall and administration in Beaucouze near Angers / France this year.

MRC