Four international engineering companies have submitted bids to build two petrochemicals plants for Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) and Japan's Mitsubishi Rayon in Saudi Arabia, two industry sources said.

They said South Korea's Daelim Industrial, France's Technip, Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas and Taiwan's CTCI had bid for the two-plant project in the industrial city of Jubail on the Gulf.

One of the plants will produce up to 250,000 tonnes a year of methyl methacrylate monomer (MMA), while the other will produce up to 40,000 tonnes of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).

MMA is widely used in transparent resins, cast sheets, paints and adhesives. PMMA is known as acrylic glass and is used for light guide sheets, automotive and other applications.

Daelim confirmed it had bid for the MMA/PMMA project but declined to give further details, while Technip declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for Tecnicas Reunidas said she could not confirm the information and CTCI could not immediately be reached for comment.

The cost of the project is expected to be lower than Sabic's first estimate of $1 billion in 2009, the sources said.

A third industry source said negotiations between Sabic and Mitsubishi Rayon were continuing with a final deal expected to be signed in a few months.  - Reuters