Another 800,000 tonnes/year of polyethylene capacity has come on line in the Middle East with the startup of the joint LyondellBasell and Tasnee and Sahara Petrochemical Co.’s Saudi Ethylene & Polyethylene Co. (SEPC). Located in Al-Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, SEPC launches with 400,000 tonnes/year high-density mulitmodal polyethylene based on LyondellBasell’s Hostalen ACP polymerization process, plus 400,000 tonnes/year of low density polyethylene, utilizing LyondellBasell’s Lupotech T technology. The site will also have ethylene (one million tonnes/year) and propylene (285,000 tonnes/year) production.
 Saudi Ethylene & Polyethylene Co. (SEPC) has successfully started up its Petrochemical Complex in Al-Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia. |
LyondellBasell holds a 25% stake in SEPC, with Tasnee and Sahara Petrochemical owning the majority 75% stake. In a release, Saleh Al-Nazha, SEPC president, said that by using the newest polyethylene production technologies from LyondellBasell, the company can manufacture specialty and high-performance products with a cost structure that can manage the “financial pressures and cyclicality of a commodity market.” LyondellBasell says its Hostalen ACP technology produces HDPE materials with an advanced toughness/stiffness balance, strong impact- and stress-crack-resistance, as well as processing advantages. The high-pressure tubular reactor process, Lupotech T, will be used for LDPE manufacture, promising fast start up and grade changes.
In a presentation at Chemical Market Assoc. Inc. (CMAI; Houston) World Petrochemical Conference, Abdulaziz M. Judaimi, VP new business development at Saudi Aramco, said 13 million tonnes of petrochemical expansion is currently underway in Saudi Arabia. Aramco is partnering with Total on its own petrochemical facility in Al Jubail, offering fuels, benzene, paraxylene, and propylene from heavy crude, with startup in 2013. —[email protected]
