Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and the US’ ExxonMobil have received funding commitments from banks for a $3.4bn plan to expand their Al-Jubail Petrochemical project, also known as Kemya.

With the commitments now in for the debt portion of the financing it is expected this will be split between a Saudi riyal tranche of around SR750m ($200m) funded by the local banks and a dollar tranche of around $1.2-1.5bn. The size of the dollar tranche has yet to be confirmed.

“The deal has now been narrowed down [with] the banks offering the lowest pricing and should be signed over the next month,” says one banker involved in the deal. “Sabic is always very price sensitive and with ExxonMobil involved as well, it will really be a deal for the banks with strong relationships with the sponsors.”

One banker in Saudi Arabia says, “There are still some things to finalise around the dollar tranche, but the plan is to sign the deal before mid-July.” Sabic and ExxonMobil only started approaching banks about the deal in early May.

The UK’s HSBC is acting as financial adviser on the project, which will broaden Kemya’s product base into synthetic rubber. The deal is structured as a 10-year corporate financing on the Kemya balance sheet, rather than ring-fenced around the expansion scheme.