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Kingdom building biggest float glass plant in the Gulf

JEDDAH - The largest and the most modern float glass plant in the Gulf countries will rise in the Royal Commission's Industrial City of Yanbu, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The state-of-the-art manufacturing complex will be set up by Obëikan Glass Co; the plant design and the supply of the main process equipment entrusted to the specialized engineering company Fives Stein.

The start-up of the facility is scheduled for the beginning of April 2010.

Obëikan Glass is setting-up a fully integrated state-of-the-art float glass plant in a region which has been experiencing an unprecedented boom in the construction industry. Growth in construction means growth in building products (which account for 80-85 percent of the float glass market) magnified by an architectural and engineering trend towards greater use of glass in building façades, for reasons involving not only design trends but also environmental protection.

The glass plant will rise at Yanbu Al Bahr, industrial and port city in Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea coast in Madina region, about 350 km north of Jeddah. Yanbu harbor on the Red Sea and on the major East-West shipping route provides easy access to the European and Far East markets for its products. The city is connected to the oil and gas pipelines conveying crude oil and liquid natural gas to support the development of a large industrial base.

The plant is to produce 800 tons per day of clear and tinted glass feature which will let it be the largest in the region. With provisions for on-line pyrolytic coatings, it will be the most modern of its kind in the Gulf countries thanks to Fives Stein technology. The French specialized company was approached by Obëikan Glass to be part of the project and is responsible for the plant design and supply of the glass manufacturing line comprising the float furnace, the tin bath, the annealing lehr and the air pollution control system. Fives Stein will also provide the start-up and plant operation assistance services insuring a smooth and efficient support until the production teams become fully self-sufficient.

Obëikan Glass float plant is destined to be a world-class facility in terms of performance of the equipment and quality of the glass products. High regard for environmental issue is a distinctive feature of the project: the plant will have a reduced ecological footprint, in accordance with the most stringent international emission standards.

© The Saudi Gazette 2009