Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) announced reaching a deal with ExxonMobil’s subsidiary to establish a petrochemical joint venture (JV) on the Gulf Coast in the US.
The engineering, purchasing, and building deals were signed with Chiyoda Kiewit and CTCI McDermott, according to a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).
The total cost of the project amounts to around SAR 27.38 billion ($7.3 billion) financed evenly by SABIC and ExxonMobil’s unit. SABIC's share will be financed from the petrochemical giant’s internal sources and other funding.
Engineering and construction works are expected to start during the second quarter of 2018, while the project is expected to be completed in Q4-21.
Trial operation of the JV will be in the first half of 2022 and it is forecast to impact positively on SABIC's financial results.
The project will include building an ethylene unit with a total capacity of 1.8 million tonnes that will feed a monoethylene glycol unit and two polyethylene units.
The JV is considered part of SABIC's plans to expand in overseas markets.
