SCPC says it has secured feedstock and site permission for the project from Saudi Aramcoand the Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu (RCJ&Y). It is now selecting a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contractor for the complex. The company has not yet decided how to finance the project. An engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender is scheduled to be released early next year. The smaller project will increase cyclohexane capacity by nearly 30 per cent to 280,000 tonnes a year (t/y) and is to be financed internally.

SCPC was formed in 1996 as a joint venture between Chevron, now part of the US' ChevronTexaco Corporation, and Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG),then called the Saudi Industrial Venture Capital Group, a consortium of local investors. Its existing aromatics complex was built by Japan's Chiyoda Corporationand comprises a benzene plant with a capacity of 480,000 t/y as well as the 220,000-t/y cyclohexane plant.

SCPC's US partner, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, is a joint venture between ChevronTexaco and Phillips Petrochemical Company, also of the US. It was formed in 2000 and is participating in several large regional petrochemical ventures. These include Qatar Petroleum'sQ-Chem II.