RIYADH – A three-way shareholders agreement to establish the Saudi Butanol Company, which will produce butanol to support the continued growth of the paints and coatings industry in Saudi Arabia, has been signed by the Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company (Saudi Kayan), a manufacturing affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara), a joint venture developed by Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC), an affiliate of National Industrialization Company (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemicals Company. This will be the first ever butanol plant in the Middle East and the largest in the world, SABIC said in a statement. The agreement was signed Wednesday by Mutlaq Al-Morished, Saudi Kayan Chairman and SABIC Corporate Finance Executive Vice President; Ziad Al-Labban, Sadara Chief Executive Officer; and Dr. Moayyed Al-Qurtas, SAAC Chairman and Tasnee Vice Chairman and CEO. Under the agreement, the three partners will have equal stake in the production quantities for downstream use or for sales in the local and overseas markets. The design capacity of the plant, which is scheduled to go on-stream in 2015, is 330,000 metric tons per annum of n-butanol and 11,000 metric tons per annum of iso-butanol. SABIC will be marketing the Saudi Kayan share of the butanol plant along with the excess material of SAAC. The estimated total cost of the project is SR1.94 billion. To be located at Tasnee Petrochemicals Complex in Jubail Industrial City and operated by Tasnee, the new plant is scheduled to go on-stream in the first quarter of 2015. It will open new job opportunities of around 200 direct and indirect positions for Saudi citizens in strong support of the Kingdom's efforts to create meaningful jobs for nationals. Commenting on the benefits of the new joint venture to the Saudi paints and coating industry, Mutlaq Al-Morished said “the butanol project will strongly support the coatings value chain in the Kingdom. Potential investors can build on the normal-butanol and its derivates produced by the new joint venture partners, and introduce a wide range of coating products for the local, regional and global markets. Saudi Kayan constantly seeks new materials and open up new opportunities for our customers.” Ziad Al-Labban said “this is another outstanding example of Sadara's commitment to success through collaboration with industry players and service providers in the Kingdom, and we are pleased to team up with Saudi Kayan and SAAC. We are proud that the butanol-based products which we will bring to market will be manufactured in the Middle East for the first time and will be a significant contributor to the continued success of downstream industries in Saudi Arabia.” Dr. Moayyed Al Qurtas said the butanol plant will provide additional integration to SAAC's Acrylates Complex, which is the first complex of its kind in the region. “We appreciate the opportunity we have got to cooperate with SABIC/Saudi Kayan and Sadara and for their trust in Tasnee to build and operate the largest butanol plant in the world on behalf of the partners. We all can benefit from the economies of scales which will enhance our national petrochemical industries' competitiveness in the world.” — SG
