The Saudi Kayan facility at Jubail was commissioned in phases from late 2011. It produces basic and specialised chemicals such as ethanolamines, ethoxylates, phenol, cumene and polycarbonate. Its capacity is almost 5.9 million tonnes a year (t/y).

The $450m amines plant was completed in 2013. Commercial production at the $300m, 300,000-t/y low-density polyethylene unit began in 2013, followed by the 50,000 t/y natural detergent alcohols plant in 2015.

The entire complex cost about $10bn to develop as the project suffered from delays, pushing it about $2.4bn over budget.

In early 2015, Saudi Kayan said it planned to expand its complex in Jubail, increasing ethylene production capacity by 93,000 t/y and ethylene oxide by 61,000 t/y by 2017. Taiwan’s CTCI was awarded a $94.5m contract to build a new cracking furnace.

Saudi Kayan is a joint stock company owned by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), with 30 per cent of its shares listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). The company became profitable in 2016. It reported a net profit of SR134.7m ($35.9m) in 2016, compared with a loss of SR1.2bn in 2015.