Sipchem shelves plans of 1.3 mln tpa

Tag : pva fibre
Major challenges on costs, schedule, availability of qualifiedcontractors and financing faced by Saudi InternationalPetrochemical Co (Sipchem) has forced the company to abandonedplans for a 1.3 mln tpa cracker project at Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia.Besides the cracker, Sipchem has also dropped plans for low-densitypolyethylene (LDPE), high density PE (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP)plants that were part of the original project configuration.
Instead the company will secure ethylene and propylene for thederivative projects through an arrangement with existing crackersat the same location. Jubail houses crackers operated by Sabic'sPetrokemya, Kemya, Sadaf and Sharq. New cracker projects atAl-Jubail include those by Sharq, National Chevron Philips (NCP),Saudi Ethylene and Polyethylene Co (SEPC) and Saudi KayanPetrochemical Co.
Sipchem plans to utilise the surplus ethylene and propylene atAl-Jubail under tolling arrangements. As the crackers at Al-Jubailare not fully utilised; no additional investment will be incurredat any of the crackers to provide ethylene and propylene toSipchem. Sipchem, which has received gas allocation for its crackerproject, will focus on differentiated products which includeethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), acrylonitrile (ACN), methylmethacrylate (MMA), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polyacetals andpolyvinyl acetate (PVA), sodium cyanide and carbon fibre.