Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and the US’ ExxonMobil Chemical have received the bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts at their $2bn Elastomers joint venture project in Saudi Arabia.

Contractors have submitted bids for five packages on a lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) basis. They are the methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) plant, utilities and offsites, ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) plant, polybutadiene Rubber (PBR) and the carbon black plant.

One package, a halobutyl rubber plant (HRP), is being carried out by the US’ Jacobs Engineering on an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) basis due to intellectual property concerns by ExxonMobil.    

“The bids are now in, but it is still early days and there have been no reports of any frontrunners for any of the packages yet,” says a contracting source based in Saudi Arabia. “With the project being a joint venture between two massive companies, I think most contractors are expecting the evaluation process to take [some time].”  

MEED reported in March that contractors had been asked to submit bundle prices for the packages in a move by the partners to cut costs. Contractors bidding for packages include:

• CTCI Corporation (Taiwan)
• Daelim Industrial Company (South Korea)
• Foster Wheeler (US)
• GS Engineering & Construction Corporation (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Technip (France)

When completed, the facility 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.