GPCA '14: ExxonMobil's S Arabia elastomers unit to start in H2 '15

DUBAI (ICIS)--ExxonMobil Chemical’s new world-scale elastomers facility in Saudi Arabia at Al-Jubail Petrochemical Co (Kemya) – a joint venture between ExxonMobil and SABIC - is expected to start up in the second half of 2015, a senior ExxonMobil executive said on Sunday.

“We are deep in the construction of that project right now,” Neil Chapman, senior vice president of ExxonMobil Chemical, said at the sidelines of 9th annual Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) Forum that is being held in Dubai on 23-25 November.
 
“The mechanical completion and the start up is in the second half of next year,” he added.

The Kemya elastomers project – which is expected to house synthetic rubbers, polyolefin elastomers and carbon black units – will have a total capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year, including 110,000 tonnes/year of halobutyl rubber capacity.

ExxonMobil is also building a 140,000 tonnes/year halobutyl unit at Jurong Island in Singapore, which is scheduled for mechanical completion in 2017.

The Singapore project will also include a new 90,000 tonne/year hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin production unit, which will be the world’s largest. Japan’s Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co (MES) will build the two plants that will utilise proprietary ExxonMobil technology, he said.

Worldwide demand for halobutyl rubber remains strong, and is expected to see an annual growth rate of about 5% in the foreseeable future.

According to ExxonMobil’s Energy Outlook report, the global number of cars and light trucks would double by 2040 to 1.7bn units, and this will support much of the demand growth for halobutyl rubber.

ExxonMobil currently operates two halobutyl production facilities in the US, one in the UK and another in Japan via a joint venture with JSR Corp.