ERJ staff report (R&PN)
Houston, Texas-Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and ExxonMobil Chemical Co. have selected Jubail, Saudi Arabia, as the location of a new joint venture plant that will include EPDM rubber, thermoplastic elastomer and carbon black production.
Officials with Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based SABIC and ExxonMobil of Houston said on March 1 that the site was selected because of integration opportunities with Kemya Al-Jubail Petrochemical Co., a SABIC/ExxonMobil JV already located in Jubail.
The new plant will have almost 900 million pounds of annual capacity for TPEs, including EPDM, styrenic block copolymers and carbon black. The project also will include a vocational training institute and product application development and support center.
No date was provided for the opening of the new plant.
When originally announced in 2006, the firms said they would expand joint petrochemical ventures in Yabu on the Red Sea coast, as well as in Jubail, and expected to start up operations in 2011.
From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)
Press release from SABIC
