Sabic and ExxonMobil decide on contracting strategy

28 November 2011

Joint venture partners likely to pursue lump-sum turnkey option for $2bn Elastomers project in Jubail

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and the US’ ExxonMobil Chemical are likely to pursue a lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) strategy for their $2bn elastomers joint venture in Saudi Arabia.

The LSTK strategy will be preferred despite sources indicating that ExxonMobil Chemical still have some concerns regarding intellectual property rights it holds on the technology being used at the halobutyls rubber plant package at the proposed plant.

“[LSTK] is the preferred model in the kingdom at the moment and as such I think this will be the model adopted for this project,” says a contracting source familiar with the project. “How this will fit in [with ExxonMobil’s concerns] I don’t know.”  

MEED reported in July that appointing a project management consultancy (PMC) to safeguard the technology was another option alongside LSTK that was being considered (MEED 22:7:11). The US’ Jacobs Engineering has almost completed the front-end engineering and design (feed) for the scheme.

As well as the halobutyls rubber plant, the other two packages at the plant are for ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM)/polybutadiene rubber (PBR) facilities and the offsites and utilities (MEED 20:5:11).

The companies bidding for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the two technical packages include:

  • CTCI Corporation (Taiwan)
  • Daelim Industrial Company (South Korea)
  • GS Engineering & Construction Corporation (South Korea)
  • Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
  • Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
  • Technip (France)

When completed, the elastomer project will produce about 400,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of carbon black, rubber and thermoplastic speciality polymers. The plant will use ExxonMobil technology and the products will be sold on local and international markets.

The scheme will be built at the Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (Kemya) complex in the Eastern Province.

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