Sabic and ExxonMobil release tenders for $2bn Elastomers project

05 January 2012

Contractors line up for packages at petrochemicals joint venture at Jubail in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and the US’ ExxonMobil Chemical have released the tenders for their $2bn Elastomers joint venture project in Saudi Arabia.

The tenders cover the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for the three main packages, as well as several minor lower-value complementary contracts.

“Bids are being formulated at the moment and will be submitted in the first quarter,” says a source familiar with the project. “The two technical packages are very interesting to a lot of contractors and the bidding will be intense on both.”

MEED reported in December that the joint venture partners had decided to pursue a lump-sum turnkey contracting strategy, despite reservations by ExxonMobil regarding intellectual property rights on its technology (MEED 2:12:11).

The three main packages are a halobutyls rubber plant, an ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM)/polybutadiene rubber (PBR) plant and the offsites and utilities.

The companies bidding for EPC contracts for the two technical packages include:

  • 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 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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