Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon Company (MRC) are preparing to release the tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for two new petrochemicals plants worth about $500m in Saudi Arabia.

MEED reported in January 2012 that Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas was awarded the front-end engineering and design (feed) contract for the scheme, but discussions over how the technology will be licensed have caused a delay in the scheme, which meant the Spanish firm could not start work until late June.

“The tender should be floated in April and the partners are prequalifying contractors now,” says a source familiar with the scheme. “It isn’t a massive project, but it is still interesting a lot of contractors.”

The two plants will produce methyl methacrylate (MMA) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), and will be built at Jubail in the Eastern Province.

The capacity for the MMA facility will be 250,000 tonnes a year (t/y), which will make it the largest of its type in the world. The PMMA plant is smaller in scale and will have a capacity of 40,000 t/y.

MMA and PMMA have a number of downstream uses including machinery, electrical components and gears, and both facilities fall in line with Sabic’s move to become a key player in the kingdom’s downstream industries.

Sabic and Lucite International, a subsidiary of MRC, are 50:50 joint venture partners for the project.