The local Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company (Saudi Kayan) has signed a deal with the local Arabian Petrochemical Company (Petrokemya) that will see each company take a 50 per cent stake in a planned ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene plant at Jubail in Saudi Arabia.

The deal was announced on the Saudi Arabian stock exchange in late December and the new plant will be constructed at the Saudi Kayan complex. MEED reported in July that Saudi Kayan had awarded the US’ Jacobs Engineering the front-end engineering and design (feed) contract for the scheme.

The deal also included Jacobs developing a process design package (PDP) for the project, which will have a capacity of 35,000 tonnes a year when completed in 2014. The feed and PCP are being carried out at the company’s Al-Khobar and UK offices.

The specialised polyethylene is used in several industrial applications, which include fibres and batteries. The plant will source ethylene from the adjacent Saudi Kayan’s olefins plant.

Both Saudi Kayan and Petrokemya are affiliates of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic).