Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to expand the scope of partnership at Tianjin industrial complex, China, currently under construction.

The agreement signed during the visit of Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping to Jeddah is designed to expand the heads of agreement (HOA) signed by the two companies on January 31, 2008, whereby Sabic will have 50 per cent of the Tianjin complex joint venture together with a feasibility for adding a new product (polycarbonates) by using raw materials produced at the complex based on Sabic Innovative Plastics technology.

The agreement also called for joint work in other future projects in China depending on each party capabilities in addition to cooperation in certain areas such as engineering services, project implementation, R&T, product marketing, and material procurement.

Chairman of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, Sabic board chairman Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thenayan Al-Saud signed for Sabic while Sinopec board chairman Su Shulin signed for his company.

The complex is expected to be completed in September 2009 with investments exceeding $2.5 billion. The overall production capacity of the complex will be approximately four  million tons of different petrochemical products including 1.2 million tons of ethylene and other products such as poly propylene (PP), butadiene, phenol, and butene-1.

China is the biggest world petrochemical market in light of high growth rates realised by the Chinese economy.  Sabic plans to set up a manufacturing centre in China to boost its presence in Asia where China represents the biggest market in the Asian continent.

This ensures that Sabic is as close as possible to its customers through its products and services. This move follows Saboc’s ambition to realise its vision “To be the preferred world leader in chemicals.” – TradeArabia News Service