Tasnee, Sahara sign SR5.25 bln financing deal with Saudi banks to support 3 JV petchem projects

23-Dec-11

The National Industrialization Co. (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemical Co. have inked a SR5.25 bln financing deal with 9 Saudi banks to support three petrochem joint venture projects: Saudi Acrylic Acid Co., Saudi Acrylic Monomers Co. and Saudi Polyolefins Co. As per ArabNews, "The agreement is signed for 16 years as the two will pay back the amount in half-yearly installments for providing finance required for their acrylic acid project in the petrochemical complex of the Jubail Industrial City." Tasnee and Sahara have already signed agreements to start engineering, procurement, and early construction works at their US$1.07 bln acrylic acid project. The deals were signed with the consortium of Germany's Linde and South Korea's Samsung. The technology transfer and marketing contracts have already been signed with US-based Rohm and Haas Co., a fully-owned unit of Dow Chemical Co. Dow Chemical Co., which owns 25 percent of the project is expected to start operations in the first quarter of 2013. The project has a designed annual capacity of 145,000 MT of crude acrylic acid, 145,000 tons of butyl acrylate, and 85,000 tons of pure acrylic acid, the two companies said. Tasnee has a 52.3% stake in Saudi Acrylic Acid Co. while Sahara holds 43.16 percent of its shares. Tasnee and Sahara have 39.2% and 32.37% stakes respectively in Saudi Acrylic Monomers Co. and Saudi Polyolefins Co. Sahara had earlier awarded a contract to South Korea's Daelim Industrial Co. to construct a caustic soda and diethylene chloride project at Al-Jubail. The project, when completed and on stream by Q3- 2012, will produce 250,000 tpa of concentric caustic soda and 300,000 tpa of di-ethylene. Tasnee produces propylene and polypropylene through Saudi Polyolefin Company, its subsidiary. The company has 450,000 mt of annual capacity each for propylene and polypropylene. SPC is a joint venture owned 75% by Tasnee and 25% by Basil International Company (LyondellBasell's affiliate). SPC's key end markets are Saudi Arabia, Middle East, Europe, and Asia.