Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and affiliates of ExxonMobil Chemical have inked front-end engineering design contracts and technology deals for their new elastomers project in Saudi Arabia.

The feed contracts for the upcoming project at the Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (Kemya), a joint venture between Sabic and ExxonMobil, have been awarded to Jacobs Engineering and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding for process units and to Fluor Transworld Services for associated support facilities.

'This elastomers project will be the basis for the creation of a world-class rubber value chain in Saudi and a valuable extension of our offering of products and services to our customers in key markets,' said Koos van Haasteren, Sabic executive vice president, Performance Chemicals.

The project is expected to establish a domestic supply of more than 400,000 MT of rubber (butyl, styrene butadiene rubber, butadiene rubber and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), thermoplastic specialty polymers and carbon black to serve emerging local and international markets in Asia and the Middle East.

'In addition to supporting local industry, the Kemya expansion would provide additional new capacity of butyl rubber and EPDM specialty elastomers to meet the growing global demand for these products,” said Neil Chapman, senior vice president, Polymers, ExxonMobil Chemical Company.

The project also includes the establishment of a vocational training center and product application development and support center aligned with Saudi’s National Industrial Clusters Development Program to grow and diversify the manufacturing sector in the Kingdom.

Third-party license agreements have been signed with Continental Carbon Company for its carbon black production technology and with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company for its SBR and polybutadiene rubber technology, said a statement from Sabic.

The University of Akron Research Foundation was selected to design, train and support the vocational training center, The High Institute for Elastomer Industries, in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia .

The training center will utilize the University's expertise in polymer science and education to provide elastomers technology vocational training for workers to support a planned downstream elastomers conversion industry in Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, a separate product application development and support center will be part of the new Sabic facilities at the Riyadh Techno Valley research complex at King Saud University, the statement said.

The final decision to implement the elastomers project requires the approval of Kemya’s board of directors, it added.-TradeArabia News Service