Beirut (APD) - Riyadh-based National Petrochemical Industrialization Company, a subsidiary of National Industrialization Company (Tasnee), and a group of other companies signed an early works agreement with Italian engineering group Tecnimont for the creation of two polyethylene plants.
The two plants are part of Tasnee's $2.53 billion ethylene complex in Jubail industrial city in Saudi Arabia, Tasnee said on the Saudi Stock Exchange website, Tadawul, on Wednesday.
The other partners of the Saudi-based National Petrochemical Industrialization in this agreement for early engineering work and early procurement include Riyadh-based Sahara Petrochemical Company and the international petrochemicals firm, Basell Polyolefins Company.
Tecnimont will perform engineering, procurement and construction works on the two plants which will produce low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE).
With this agreement the contractors for the SR 9.5 billion ($2.53 billion) giant complex for ethylene and its derivatives in Al Jubail industrial city are thus completely selected, Tasnee said.
The company did not specify the value of the early works contracts.
In 2005, Tasnee had signed a technical licensing agreement with Basell for the two polyethylene plants.
Tasnee's Jubail polyethylene complex is scheduled to start operations in the second half of 2008 and provide about 600 job opportunities. It will have an annual production of 1 million tons of ethylene, 285,000 tons of propylene and 400,000 tons of low density polyethylene (LDPE).
The complex also entails a propylene and polypropylene plant, which started production in 2004 under a joint venture between Tasnee and Basell. Achieving its first full year of production in 2005, the plant performed beyond its designed capacity, Tasnee claimed.
Shares in Tasnee fell by SR 14, or about 1.55%, to SR 888 in late afternoon trading on Wednesday.
Established in 1985, Tasnee promotes and participate in industrial projects in the fields of chemicals, petrochemicals, engineering, paper and plastics, and industrial services. [TS]
By Shikrallah Nakhoul, APD Staff Writer in Beirut
APD (Arab Press Digest) 2006
