SABIC starts commercial ops at synthetic rubber plant

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) has started on Saturday commercial operations at its synthetic rubber polybutadiene with full capacity, the company said in a statement, adding that it expects financial impact to show on Q4 results.

The petrochemical producer has put under trial its manufacturing synthetic rubber ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer unit, as well as the thermoplastic specialty polymers and halobutyl rubber units.

Commercial operation of these projects is set to start in Q1-2017, with financial impact likely to reflect on the company’s results following commercial operation, SABIC added.

In 2012, Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (KEMYA), a 50-50 joint venture between SABIC and Exxon Chemical Arabia Inc., had awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts for the elastomers facility to Daelim Industries, Technip, and Tecnicas Reunidas.

The facility will have the capacity to produce up to 400,000 tonnes per year of rubber including halobutyl, styrene butadiene, polybutadiene, ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubbers, and thermoplastic specialty polymers.