Still no decision for $400m Ibn Sina plant

17 June 2013

EPC contractors still waiting for award announcement at polyacetal plant

The local National Methanol Company (Ibn Sina) has still not made a decision regarding its planned $400m polyacetal plant at Jubail in the Eastern Province.

International contractors submitted bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in the fourth quarter of 2012, but no winner has been announced yet.

“The bidders are still waiting to hear who is successful on this project,” says a petrochemicals source based in Saudi Arabia. “No-one is sure if there is an issue or if it is just a case of the client taking its time to evaluate the bids and make an award.”  

Bidders for the scheme include:

  • CTCI Corporation (Taiwan)
  • China National Chemical Engineering Corporation (China)
  • Intecsa Industrial and Dragados Industrial (Spain)
  • Hanwha Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
  • SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea)

The plant will have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes-a -year (t/y) when completed in 2015. Polyacetal is a performance chemical product used in the automotive industry.

Ibn Sina is a joint venture of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation and the CTE. The original methanol plant has been in operation since 1984, but has undergone a series of expansions.

The complex currently produces 950,000 t/y of methanol and 750,000 t/y of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). MTBE is used almost exclusively as an additive for gasoline.

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