Sharq wraps up process plant awards

05 August 2005
Jubail-based Eastern Petrochemical Company (Sharq) awardedin late July the two remaining process packages on its $2,500 million expansion programme. The awards of the cracker and polyethylene (PE) packages came after final commercial offers were submitted in mid-July (MEED 17:6:05).

The UK's Stone & Webster, part of US-based ShawInternational, received a letter of intent for the front-end engineering and design (FEED), technology supply and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract covering the 1.3 million-tonne-a-year (t/y) ethane/propane cracker. Two other groups - a Japanese/US joint venture of Chiyoda Corporationand US-based Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), and Germany's Linde- were competing for the award.

Linde also received a letter of intent for the EPC package covering the linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) units, which will each have capacity of 400,000 t/y. The PE complex will use the Unipol PE process from the US' Univation Technologies.

In late June, South Korea's Samsung Engineering Companywas selected for the first EPC package, covering the construction of a 700,000-t/y ethylene glycol (EG) plant (MEED 1:7:05).

The expansion is due to be completed in the first quarter of 2008. Sharq is a 50:50 joint venture between Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic)and a group of Japanese companies led by Mitsubishi Corporation(MEED 17:6:05).

US-based Foster Wheeleris the project management consultant (MEED 1:7:05).

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