MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC and ExxonMobil said that they have created a new joint venture to advance development of the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures project, a 1.8 million tonne ethane cracker currently planned for construction in San Patricio County, Texas, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The facility will also include a monoethylene glycol unit and two polyethylene units.
"We are very pleased to announce the creation of what is now planned to be the third joint venture between our two companies," said SABIC vice chairman and CEO Yousef Al-Benyan. "We look forward to the next phase of the project, which supports not only our goals for global diversification, but also supports Saudi Vision 2030. In addition, we are proud of the role the project will play in enhancing the economic profile of San Patricio County, Texas," Al-Benyan stated.
SABIC is the operating partner for two long-standing joint ventures with ExxonMobil in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kemya in Jubail and Yanpet in Yanbu.
Creation of the new joint venture represents a key milestone that allows the two companies to continue advancing the project, which is expected to create 600 new, permanent jobs, about 3,500 indirect and induced jobs during operations, as well as 6,000 construction jobs during the peak of construction.
"The new joint venture expands our long relationship with SABIC and builds on the success of several other joint projects," said John Verity, president of the ExxonMobil Chemical Company. "The project will create value not only for both of our companies, but for the surrounding communities through the creation of jobs and economic growth. We appreciate the support we’re receiving, and look forward to continuing our conversations with San Patricio County residents and businesses as we progress."
Construction of the project, announced in 2016, is pending completion of the environmental permitting process. The plant is expected to be operational in the 2021-2022 timeframe.
We remind that, as MRC informed before, in response to customer needs, in February 2018, SABIC announced projects in Asia and the Netherlands designed to increase global capacity for two of its high-performance engineering thermoplastic materials, Ultem and Noryl resins. The planned new production facility in Singapore is expected to go online in the first half of 2021. The company also plans to recommission operations at its Bergen op Zoom PPE resin plant in the Netherlands by the end of 2019 to produce polyphenylene ether (PPE), the base resin for its line of Noryl resins and oligomers.
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the worldпїЅs market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC