Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon Company (MRC) have asked for revised bids from the four shortlisted companies bidding for the contract to build two new petrochemicals plants worth about $500m in Saudi Arabia.

MEED reported in early March that the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tenders had been submitted for the long-awaited scheme at Jubail in the Eastern Province. Technical clarification meetings have now been held and the contractors have been asked to resubmit bids based on these meetings.

“This type of revision is quite common and it is normal to tweak the scope of works during these discussions,” says a petrochemicals industry source based in Saudi Arabia. “Bids are expected to be submitted by the end of April.”

The bidders on the project are:

• Daelim Industrial (South Korea)
• CTCI Corporation (Taiwan)
• Technip (France)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)

The joint venture partners behind the deal are still expected to make an award on the scheme by the end of the second quarter of 2014. The two plants will produce methyl methacrylate (MMA) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA).

Tecnicas Reunidas was awarded the contract for the front-end engineering and design (feed) work for the project in January 2012. 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 smaller PMMA plant will have a capacity of 40,000 t/y.

MMA and PMMA have several downstream uses including in the construction of machinery, electrical components and gears. 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 on the scheme.