Taiwan’s CTCI and China’s Sinopec Engineering have been awarded two deals by Arabian Industrial Fibers Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) to expand capacity at the Ibn Rushd complex in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast.

The expansion contract with CTCI involves increasing the capacity of the aromatics and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants, Reuter’s news agency reports.

Aromatics production is expected to increase from 560,000 tonnes a year (t/y) to 1.2 million t/y and PTA capacity will more than double to 750 000 t/y. The values of the deals have not been disclosed.

Sinopec Engineering will be responsible for construction for a new $500m polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant and more than double production to 750,000 t/y from 330,000 t/y.  

Germany’s Uhde was previously considered the frontrunner for the deal after entering direct negotiations with Sabic for the contract. Uhde also carried out the front-end engineering and design for the deal (MEED 2:12:10).

The projects are expected to take between 24 and 27 months.