Saudi Aramco, Total ink petrochemical facility deal with Daelim

Saudi Aramco and Total have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Daelim, a South Korean petrochemical company, to build a new Polyisobutylene (PIB) plant with a production capacity of 80,000-ton, the oil giant said in a statement on Thursday.

The front-end engineering and design (FEED) of the PIB plant will be launched this month and is expected to be finished in Q4 2019. The plant will likely come on-stream in 2024, the statement said.

The new petrochemicals facility will be using feedstock from the Amiral complex in Jubail to develop the PIB product for the first time in the Kingdom, it said.

This specialty chemical project will be part of the large-scale petrochemical complex of Amiral, located in the value park.

PIB is a high value-added chemical product and has a wide range of industrial applications such as adhesives, lubricants and fuel additives, it added.