Sipchem, one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent listed petrochemicals companies has completed an expansion project at Jubail Industrial City, on the Gulf Coast. In a 1 July announcement, the company said that its Saudi Ethylene and Polyethylene Company (SEPC) joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s Tasnee and US chemicals firm LyondellBasell, has completed construction works and that trial production has commenced.
EPC contracts worth $500mn had been awarded in December 2023 for the project, under which SEPC’s steam cracker was to be expanded by 18%. The cracker has been operating since August 2008 and has capacity to produce 1mn t/y of ethylene and 285mn t/y of propylene, supplying 400,000 t/y High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and 400,000 t/y of Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) units. (CONTINUED - 245 WORDS)