JEDDAH, 8 December 2005 — The production at the first Butanediol (BDO) plant in the Middle East has started. The Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) has announced that its affiliate Gulf Advanced Chemical Company Ltd. (GACIC) commenced production at its BDO plant in Jubail.
The plant successfully started initial production last October and is now going on stream with a total capacity of 75,000 tons per year to meet the growing demand for BDO and derivatives (such as 1,4-butanediol “one comma four”) in the world and domestic markets.
The main contractor for the project was Aker Kvaerner of the Netherlands. It took the Dutch company 33 months to complete the construction of the plant. The US-based Huntsman Corporation and the English Davy Process Technology provided the plant’s technology, and the American UOP provided the technology for the reverse butamer unit.
GACIC is majority owned by Sipchem, in joint venture with the Public Pension Agency, General Organization of Social Insurance (GOSI), Huntsman Corp., Davy Process Technology, Sabih Tahir Darwish Al Masri, and A.S. Albabtain & Company.
Saudi International Petrochemical Company is a joint stock company founded in 1999 with the aim of investing in the fields of petrochemicals, chemicals and basic hydrocarbon industries toward increasing national productivity and expanding industrial development. Beside its Methanol and BDO plant already on stream, Sipchem is currently on track to set up other projects, including the Acetyls Jubail complex that is comprised of three plants. The complex is planned to start operation by the 4th quarter of 2008.
Sipchem has set up a number of joint venture chemical production companies with foreign partners. The companies will produce and market maleic anhydride, butanediol, methanol and acetic acid. The new production plants are at Al-Jubail City. The project’s initial investment was $800 million.