Saudi Aramco, Sumitomo Chemical invite banks to back JV plant expansion

11-Sep-14

Saudi Arabia's PetroRabigh's founding shareholders have formally invited banks to provide financing for the 32 billion riyal (US$8.5 bln) expansion of its petrochemicals complex in the kingdom, as per Reuters. No figures for how much cash would be raised by PetroRabigh - a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical - were given in the statement. The requests for proposals were issued by the parent firms to local and international banks on Tuesday, with financing of the expansion to be split between conventional loans and sharia-compliant facilities, the bourse filing said. The new facility, known as Rabigh II, is to be built as an expansion of PetroRabigh's existing petrochemical plant, increasing output and introducing higher-margin products like ethylene propylene rubber, thermoplastic polyolefin, methyl methacrylate monomer and polymethyl methacrylate among other products.