Petro Rabigh’s new plant to kick off operations by mid-2016

Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) will start its new phenol/acetone plant in H2-2016, according to ICIS.

The new plant will produce 275,000 tpa of phenol and 160,000 tpa of acetone.

The project is a part of Petro Rabigh’s second phase of expansion, which is expected come online in 2016 and will have a capacity to produce 1.34 million mt/year of paraxylene and 424,000 mt/year of benzene.

The complex will also produce several other products like polyethylene terephthalate, polyether polyols, MTBE, acetone, phenol, acetic acid and nylon-6, according to a report published by Platts in May 2014.

PetroRabigh, is a joint venture between Japan’s Sumitomo Chemicals and state-owned energy firm Saudi Aramco.