Saudi Kings' visit to result in Chinese ethylene JV for Sabic?

25-Jan-06

Sabic and Sinopec, China's top refiner and petrochemicals producer will restart joint-venture talks to build a 1 million tpa ethylene plant. Saudi King Abdullah's visit to Beijing has helped in the revival of negotiations between Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) and Sinopec to build a major ethylene complex in China. Sabic, the world's most profitable petrochemical firm, has in recent years unsuccessfully considered investing in China's fast-expanding petrochemical sector. Sinopec has received approval to build a US$3.1 billion project that includes the ethylene plant and a 250,000 bpd refinery in northern China's Tianjin city by 2008. Joint-venture discussions are expected to commence with Sabic for the same. Though cash-rich Sinopec is not hard pressed for a foreign partner, it stands to benefit from Sabic's access to cheap oil and gas resources in Saudi Arabia a its dependence on foreign crude oil increases.