SABIC gives nod to Asian, Spanish firms to bid for JV Polyacetal plant

SABIC gives nod to Asian, Spanish firms to bid for JV Polyacetal plant

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) has invited bids for the construction of a 50,000 tonnes-per-year polyacetal (POM) facility at its affiliate Ibn Sina in Jubail, industry sources said on Wednesday.

August 16, 2012 11:41 by Reuters

National Methanol Co, better known as Ibn Sina, is 50-percent owned by SABIC while Celanese Corp and an affiliate of Duke Energy Corp each have a 25 percent-stake.

Companies invited to submit bids by Oct. 24 are Spain’s Dragados, China National Chemical Engineering Co, Taiwan’s CTCI, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering, Daelim Industrial, Hanwha Engineering and SK Engineering and Construction.

In 2010, when SABIC signed an agreement with Celanese to develop the project, it said the investment was expected to be nearly $400 million. It said then the plant would go online by 2013 with engineering and construction work starting by 2011.

The facility will use methanol feedstock from Ibn Sina to make POM, largely used in the automotive industry.

SABIC is building a $3.4 billion synthetic rubber project in Jubail in a joint venture with Exxon Mobil Chemical, a unit of ExxonMobil, riding increased transport demand and vehicle use in the region, Africa and Asia.

(Reporting by Reem Shamseddine; Editing by Amran Abocar)