ExxonMobil Chemical and Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) have launched bids for the first package of their synthetic rubber project in Jubail, two sources at contractors said.

The due date for storage tanks and spheres bids is November 27.

The plant will be located in Kemya, itself a joint-venture petrochemical plant between ExxonMobil and Sabic.

Spheres are pressurised tanks used for gases in their liquefied forms while tanks are atmospheric and used for petroleum, petrochemicals storage.   

The other packages consist of a metyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) plant and a halobutyl rubber plant, two contractors said adding that they expect to receive invitations to bid for these packages soon.

ExxonMobil and Sabic first announced plans to build elastomers plants at their joint ventures in Yanbu and Jubail last year.

The combined value of the project, which will have a production capacity of about 400,000 tonnes per year of carbon black, rubber and speciality polymers is estimated at $5 billion, Marc Granier vice-president of ExxonMobil Chemical in Saudi Arabia said last month.

The implementation of the project, which would serve the tyre industry in Saudi Arabia, awaits a final investment decision by 2010 or 2011, Granier said.

ExxonMobil has more than doubled its global halobutyl capacity since 1995. It sees itself as a major supplier of halobutyl rubber to the global tyre industry, according to its website.

ExxonMobil did not respond to e-mailed questions and Sabic's spokesman declined to comment. - Reuters