Dow Chemical, Aramco to build $20 billion chemicals complex in Saudi Arabia
25 Jul 2011
Dow Chemical, the $53.6 billion US-based multinational corporation, plans to build and operate a $20 billion integrated chemicals complex in Saudi Arabia in partnership with Saudi oil company Saudi Aramco.
The world's largest oil company and the world's leading chemicals and plastics producer will form an equal joint venture company to build, own and operate a world-scale chemicals and plastics production complex in Jubail, named the Ras Tanura Integrated Project.
The Ras Tanura petrochemical JV will be operationally integrated with Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura Refinery complex and its Ju'aymah gas processing plant, two of the largest facilities of their kind in the world.
Construction of the Ras Tanura Refinery complex is to start immediately, with the first production units expected on line in the second half of 2015 and all units expected to be up and running in 2016.
The $20 billion investment, which includes third-party contributions, is expected to generate annual revenue of around $10 billion within a few years of operation, said Aramco.
The complex will include a world-scale cracker that will be able to crack a wide range of feedstocks and be supplied by Saudi Aramco's extensive integrated hydrocarbon infrastructure.