JEDDAH, 17 January 2006 — Yanbu National Petrochemicals Company (Yansab), which intends to establish one of the world’s largest petrochemical complexes with an annual capacity exceeding four million tons of secondary petrochemicals, will receive a loan of SR4 billion from the Public Investment Fund.
The fund’s board of directors yesterday sanctioned the loan to finance the project at Yanbu-2 industrial city. The project is estimated to cost SR18.26 billion, the Saudi Press Agency said.
Yansab, an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), recently offered 35 percent of its shares or more than 39 million shares worth SR2 billion in a major IPO, which attracted nearly half of the country’s Saudi population.
The IPO raised SR5.91 billion from 7.9 million Saudi buyers.
SABIC owns 55 percent of Yansab shares. The complex, which will be operational by 2008, is part of SABIC’s plan to reach a total annual capacity of 60 million tons in order to maximize its contribution to national development programs. Yansab will produce 1.3 million tons of ethylene, 400,000 tons of propylene, 900,000 tons of polyethylene, 400,000 tons of polypropylene, 700,000 tons of ethylene glycol, 250,000 tons of benzene, xylene and toluene, and 100,000 tons of butane-1 and butane-2.
The PIF board also approved a loan of SR1.8 billion to Eastern Petrochemicals Company (Sharq) to finance its third expansion project, which is estimated to cost SR13.9 billion. The National Chemical Transport Company also received a loan of SR436 million to finance the building of a fleet of 13 ships.
Finance Minister and Chairman of PIF Ibrahim Al-Assaf said the board approved the new loans to encourage establishment of strategic petrochemical complexes, adding that the new projects would create more jobs for Saudis.