Shell says it is looking to increase the capacity of the existing production units at the facility and manufacture new products. The development was announced in the latest issue of Shell’s Middle East magazine, which was published in mid-January.

However, Shell adds it will have to secure sufficient allocations of gas from the kingdom before it can commit to such an expansion.

Sadaf considered relaunching a planned styrene plant in 2007 after the project was postponed in 2005 because of rising development costs (MEED 5:10:07).

Sadaf already produces more than 1 million tonnes a year of styrene at its Jubail petrochemicals complex (MEED 18:3:05).

The joint venture started production in 1985, taking advantage of the low-cost ethane gas produced by Saudi Aramco. Its products include styrene monomer, ethylene dichloride, caustic soda, ethanol and methyl tertiary butyl ether.