Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) - the world's largest petrochemical company by market value and private Chinese firm Shide may have to wait another year for approval on the long-delayed US$5.2 bln petrochemical complex. This project was proposed as far back as 2003. The government seems to be putting off the project because it had approved an 800,000 tpa naphtha cracker last year for PetroChina's Fushun subsidiary, and a second approval could result in too much ethylene capacity in one province over a short time period. SABIC may relocate the complex planned to be located at Dalian, if Beijing continues to defer approval. Upon approval, this will be China's first petrochemical project built by a private company, breaking a monopoly by domestic oil-producing leaders PetroChina and Sinopec.
SABIC and Shide have been in talks for three years on the complex, now seen including a 10 million tpa oil refinery, a one million tpa ethylene plant and a 300,000 ton oil terminal. The project will give SABIC a foothold in the world's second-largest oil consumer. The Saudi giant hopes China will help it achieve a goal of almost doubling output to 100 million tons by 2015.
09-Mar-07 
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