Saudi European Petrochemical Company, IBN ZAHR, an affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) signed yesterday a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Daelim Industrial Company Ltd., South Korea, for the engineering, procurement and construction management services of utilities and off-site facilities for its Polypropylene 3 Plant (under construction) in Al-Jubail. The new facilities are planned to be completed in conjunction with the main Polypropylene 3 Plant, by 2nd quarter 2008, according to a report carried today by SABIC'S web-page. The LOI was signed at the SABIC Engineering & Project Management office on behalf of IBN ZAHR by Omar Abdullah Al-Amoudi, IBN ZAHR President; and on behalf of the Daelim group by Jong-Won Na, Vice President, Plant Business Division, Daelim Industrial Company Ltd., South Korea and Sung-In, Kim, Managing Director, Daelim Saudi Arabia Company Ltd. Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC Vice Chairman & CEO said, "The new plant will add 500,000 metric tons annual capacity of polystyrene. This is a thermal plastic product, which forms the basis for a broad segment of downstream industries. The production of this material is expected to contribute towards the development of the production of the national downstream industries, and strengthening SABIC's competitive capabilities in the global markets. SABIC is the world's sixth largest producer of polystyrene". IBN ZAHR was SABIC's first joint venture with European companies. SABIC owns 80% and the remaining percentage is equally owned by Ecofuel of Italy and the Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (APICORP). IBN ZAHR is one of the world's largest producers of MTBE with an annual capacity of 1.6 million metric tons and 640,000 mtpa of polypropylene.
