Sipchem affiliate starts commercial operations at PBT plant

Sipchem Chemical Company, an affiliate of Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem), has commenced commercial operations at its polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) plant in Jubail Industrial City as of July 1.

The plant's performance tests were completed successfully ensuring efficiency, capacity and product quality, the company said in a statement to the Saudi bourse (Tadawul) on Thursday.

The total production capacity of the plant is 63,000 metric tons per year.

"The commercial operation of the PBT plant, the first of its kind in the Middle East, is an important step in Sipchem expansion and growth strategy," Ahmad Al-Ohali, chief executive officer, Sipchem, said.

"The addition of the PBT plant will allow Sipchem to further realize the benefit of its integrated package of products and will strengthen the added value chain," he added.

The financial impact of commercial operation will be reflected in the company's results in the third quarter of 2018, the statement added.

PBT is a high specialty thermal engineering polymer used in many applications, such as for car manufacturing, electrical/electronic products, and engineering plastic. It uses butanediol produced by International Diol Company, an affiliate of Sipchem, as a feed material for producing the PBT.

Sipchem owns 100 percent of Sipchem Chemical Company.