MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) has completed the expansion of its ethane cracker, increasing its processing capacity by 30 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) to 125 MMSCFD, said Argaam, citing the company's announcement in a bourse statement.
Rabigh added that it expects sales revenue to grow by SAR 750 million this year from this expansion.
The unit production capacity will reach 1.6 million metric tons annum (mtpa), compared to current 1.3 mtpa.
The ethane cracker is part of the Rabigh II project, whose ownership was transferred to the company by founders Saudi Aramco and Japanese producer Sumitomo Chemical.
As MRC informed previously, in April 2015, Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) received ownership of the Rabigh Phase II project from Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical, major shareholders in Petro Rabigh, and will now integrate the project into Petro Rabigh's existing refining and petrochemical complex in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.
The Rabigh II project, expected to cost about USD 8.1-billion, involves expanding an existing ethane cracker and adding production of ethylene propylene rubber, thermoplastic polyolefins, methyl methacrylate monomer, polymethyl methacrylate, low-density polyethylene/ethylene vinyl acetate, paraxylene/benzene, cumene and phenol/acetone. Production facilities are expected to begin operations "one after another, beginning in the first half of 2016," Sumitomo said.
PetroRabigh, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, has an annual output capacity of 18 million tonnes of refined products and 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemicals. Thus, the complex currently has a cracker to produce 1.3-million t/y of ethylene and 900,000 t/y of propylene, as well as downstream production of polyethylene, polypropylene, propylene oxide, ethylene glycol and butene-1.
MRC