Arabian Industrial Fibre Company (Ibn Rushd) has received technical bids for the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its planned $500m polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant at Yanbu in Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi Arabia-based contracting source tells MEED that Germany’s Uhde, who carried out the front-end engineering and design (feed), is in direct negotiations for the contract and is the frontrunner for the contract.  

“Technical bids went in on November 15 and commercial bids are due for the project are due in on December 15,” the source says. “However, even though a lot of the companies are bidding low, Uhde carried out the design and is now in direct talks with the client to carry on and do the EPC.”

The source also says that Germany’s Uhde affiliate, Uhde Inventa-Fischer, is providing the process technology.

EPC contract bidders

• CTCI Corporation (Taiwan)
• Daelim Industrial Company (South Korea)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Uhde

The award will be announced in the first quarter of 2011 and completion is expected for the first quarter of 2014.  

The PET plant is part of an expansion of the current facilities and when completed will double the capacity to 700,000 tonne-a-year. PET is used in the production of plastic bottles and is sold by Ibn Rushd in resin form.

The feedstock for the plant will be purified terephthalic acid (PTA). MEED reported in October that Ibn Rushd has received the final commercial proposals for a 350,000-t/y PTA plant at the same complex (MEED 1:10:10).

The same bidders for the PET plant are bidding for the PTA plant with the exception of Uhde. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation is also bidding for the PTA plant.

Ibn Rushd is a subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), which owns a 70 per cent, with private shareholders owning the remaining 30 per cent.