Sabic plans 2014 release for acrylonitrile plant tender

Contractors kept waiting as bid documents look set to be released a little later than scheduled.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) has put back the date it plans to release the tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build a new petrochemicals plant at Jubail in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

MEED reported in October that the petrochemicals giant was planning to invite contractors to bid on the scheme in the fourth quarter. Now it is looking to a release early in the first quarter of 2014.

South Korea’s Daelim Industrial has completed the front-end engineering and design for the plant and EPC contractors are now waiting for the tender to be released. The plant is a joint venture between Sabic and Japan’s Mitsubishi and Asahi Kasei.

“The tender is coming a little bit later than scheduled but Sabic is still committed to executing the scheme,” says a petrochemicals source based in Saudi Arabia. “The document is ready to be released.”

The scope of works includes the construction of a 200,000 tonne-a-year acrylonitrile plant alongside a 40,000 t/y sodium cyanide facility alongside utilities and offsites.

Acrylonitrile is used as a binding agent to form other products such as synthetic rubbers and polyamides. Sodium cyanide is a product used primarily in gold mining as well as to extract other precious metals.

Sabic is planning several smaller scale plants that will be used to feed conversion industries in the kingdom.

They will feed specialist parks aimed at furthering job creation. Late last month Sabic, along with joint venture partner Mitsubishi Rayon, issued tenders for two new petrochemicals plants worth about $500m in Saudi Arabia