SABIC holds seminar on opportunities In Saudi rubber Industry

ERJ staff report (DS)

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and its joint venture partner ExxonMobil hosted a symposium promoting rubber industry downstream development at SABIC headquarters in Riyadh on November 18. The goal was to deliver all the applicable information needed to generate interest in developing this market.

The event was largely attended by government representatives, current rubber converters as well as related industry players who are seeking ways to diversify their business, besides prospective entrepreneurs looking to enter this market.

Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, highlighted the company's commitment to industrial development in Saudi Arabia. “Creating an efficient and competitive value chain for synthetic rubber is our focus in this initiative. The institution of a strong rubber goods industry in Saudi Arabia will be the single most significant hallmark of success in this endeavour. It is crucial that we inspire the entrepreneurial spirit that will spark innovation in the Kingdom and propel its economy forward,” he said.

At the symposium, Al-Wakeel gave an overview of the project to produce synthetic rubber at Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (KEMYA), a joint venture between SABIC and ExxonMobil. He said that SABIC has identified synthetic rubbers as an attractive opportunity for industrial development in Saudi Arabia and has sought out state of art technologies to meet the needs of a world class rubber processing industry.

The KEMYA plants, he said, are expected to go onstream in 2015 and produce 400,000 tons per annum of Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM), Polyolefin Elastomers (POE), Butadiene Rubber, Butyl Rubber (BR) and Carbon Black, with commercial premarketing material available to the market by mid of 2013.

"We'll start at or above that capacity, with room to grow as needed. New synthetic rubber production in the Kingdom will provide new rubber goods and tyre investment opportunities for entrepreneurs,” he added.

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Press release from SABIC