MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) will be halting the production of Ultem polymers in its mega production complex in Cartagena, Spain, this year, said the company.
The move is part of the strategy to optimise global operations, the state-owned enterprise said in a bourse filing on Tuesday.
SABIC is the world’s fourth-biggest petrochemicals company. Saudi Aramco has announced a deal to buy a 70 percent stake in SABIC from the Public Investment Fund in March last year.
SABIC assured that the rest of the operations at the Cartagena facility will continue, although it is expecting the suspension to result in a “non-cash financial impact" of approximately 700 million Saudi riyals.
It also assured that it remains committed to meet the product requirements of its existing Ultem customers through its other assets.
"The decision has no direct impact on the other remaining operations at the Cartagena facility," SABIC said.
The Saudi conglomerate has a complex in Cartagena, home to a few plants that specialise in the production of polycarbonate and polyetherimide resins. In September 2010, the company opened the doors to its second Ultem resin plant in the Cartagena complex. The investment costs 300 million euros.
Earlier last year, SABIC took off-stream its SABIC Olefins 4 cracker owing to technical issues on May 10, 2019. Further details on duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in beek, the Netherlands, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 690,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 360,000 mt/year.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC