France’s Technip-Coflexip has been awarded a contract by the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for the design and construction of an acetic acid plant in the Arabian Industrial Fibers company complex, in the industrial city of Yanbu. The plant is scheduled to come on stream by the beginning of the second quarter of 2004.
This 30,000-ton a year acetic acid plant will use the new acetic technology based on the oxidization of ethane, which has been developed by SABIC's research and development center in Riyadh, stated a company press release. Acetic acid production will be used by Arabian Industrial Fibers company, as a feedstock to produce PTA, an intermediate to manufacture polyesters.
Technip-Coflexip's involvement in the plant’s establishment includes project management, engineering, procurement of equipment and materials, construction, pre-commissioning and assistance to commissioning and start-up. The project will be carried out by the engineering center of Technip-Coflexip based in Rome, with the construction being handled by the group's local affiliate, Technip Saudi Arabia.
Saudi petrochemical conglomerate SABIC is the Middle East's largest non-oil industrial company. The company’s production exceeds 25 million tons a year of petrochemical and metal products. SABIC employs 16,000 workers worldwide and is owned principally by the Saudi government. In fiscal 2000, the company generated revenues of $7.1 million. It is grouped into five business units: Basic Chemicals, Intermediates, Polymers, Fertilizers and Metals, and is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
TECHNIP-COFLEXIP ranks among the top five in the field of oil and petrochemical engineering, construction and services, with a workforce of about 18,000 and annual revenues of about five billion euros. Headquartered in Paris, the group is listed in New York and in Paris.
The main engineering and business centers of Technip-Coflexip are located in France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, the United States, Brazil, Abu-Dhabi, China, India, Malaysia and Australia. The Group has industrial and construction facilities in France, Brazil, the UK, the USA, and Finland as well as a fleet of offshore construction vessels. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
