SABIC To Market Saudi Aramcos Polyolefin Products In Fujian Joint-Venture
Saudi Aramco announced on 12 July that its wholly owned subsidiary Saudi Aramco Sino Company signed a mutual cooperation agreement with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) subsidiary, SABIC Shenzhen Trading Company, to market the latters 25% share (equivalent to 320,000 tons/year) of polyolefins produced by Chinas Fujian Refining and Petrochemicals Company. Implementation of the agreement is expected to start with the commercial startup of the project in 2Q09. The agreement is intended as a launching pad for more extensive strategic cooperation between SABIC and Saudi Aramco, said SABICs Vice-Chairman and CEO Muhammad Al-Mady. The project will produce 400,000 t/y of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), 400,000 t/y of high density polyethylene (HDPE), and 470,000 t/y of polypropylene (PP), said Saudi Aramco.
The Fujian Refining and Ethylene Joint Venture Project was initiated in 2007 to expand the existing Quanzhou refinery from 80,000 b/d (4mn t/y) to 240,000 b/d (12mn t/y). The upgraded refinery will primarily process Saudi Arabian crude. The project also involves the construction of an 800,000 t/y ethylene cracker, an 800,000 t/y polyethylene unit, a 400,000 t/y polypropylene unit and an aromatics complex to produce 700,000 t/y of paraxylene (MEES, 9 April 2007). The Fujian Refining and Petrochemical Company, is owned by Fujian Petrochemical Company Ltd (FPCL 50%), ExxonMobil China Petroleum and Petrochemical Company (25%) and Saudi Aramco Sino Company (25%).
Copyright MEES 2008.
