SABIC said to award EPC contract for Jubail plant by July

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) is expected to award an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its planned Jubail-based acrylonitrile by July, Middle East Economic Digest has reported.

The three remaining contractors are South Korea’s Daelim Industrial and Samsung Engineering, as well as Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas.

The petrochemical facility is estimated to cost between $500 million $800 million.

SABIC began evaluating financial and technical bids last November. New prices were submitted in late January; however, no details have revealed since then on any frontrunners.

The region’s largest petrochemical producer had previously signed on to a joint venture with its Japanese partners Mitsubishi Corporation and Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation to build the Middle East’s first acrylonitrile and sodium cyanide plant. The facility will be built in Al-Jubail Industrial City, located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

The scope of work includes the construction of a 200,000 ton per annum (tpa) acrylonitrile plant alongside a 40,000 tpa sodium cyanide facility, and utilities and offsites. 

The venture aims to capture most of the growing demand for acrylonitrile in the Middle East and Africa.

Acrylonitrile is used as a binding agent to form products such as synthetic rubbers and polyamides. Sodium cyanide is a product used primarily in gold mining, as well as to extract other precious metals.

Acrylonitrile and Sodium Cyanide Plant