Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and ExxonMobil Chemical announced that they have begun work on a feasibility study to define a potential project that would grow their two joint petrochemical ventures at Yanbu and Jubail. The project would target a domestic supply of carbon black and rubber and thermoplastic specialty polymers (EPDM, TPO, Butyl, SBR/PBR) to serve emerging local and international markets. Expected project start-up is 2011.
The project would utilize feedstocks allocated by the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and additional feedstocks from other sources in the Kingdom that will be processed at Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company (YANPET) in Yanbu and Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (KEMYA) in Jubail.