The local National Methanol Company (Ibn Sina) has started the pre-qualification process for the right to bid for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a $400m polyacetal plant. The plant is to be built at Ibn Sina’s complex at Jubail in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Contractors have already started to submit prequalification documents to the company, which plans to shortlist prospective bidders in March before releasing a tender in April. Bids will then be submitted by July and a decision made in September or October 2012.

“This is an interesting contract and $400m is a decent size,” says a contracting source based in the Eastern Province.

The contractors looking to submit prequalification documents include:

• CTCI Corporation (Taiwan)
• Daelim Industrial (South Korea)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering and Construction (South Korea)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• Technip (France)

The plant will have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes a year when completed in 2015. Polyacetal is a performance chemical product used in the automotive industry.

Ibn Sina is a joint venture of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation and the US’ Celanese and Duke Energy.