PetroRabigh has asked contractors for expressions of interest in building parts of an estimated $6-8 billion second phase of its sprawling petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia, industry sources said.

The planned expansion includes engineering procurement and construction packages for seven processing units and three associated utilities projects.

A total of 16 contractors in Saudi Arabia have been invited to express their interest in bidding for the -- RP1 -- package on August 13. The work calls for some changes to the existing ethane cracker.

In June, PetroRabigh, a joint venture between Japan's Sumitomo Chemical  and Saudi Aramco started issuing bids for Rabigh II; the expansion of the complex on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Bids are due to close on October 1.

In July, it offered a utilities package --UO1-- for bidding which is due by October 31.

As part of the expansion, PetroRabigh would increase the capacity of the existing ethane cracker to take in an additional 30 million cubic feet per day of feedstock ethane.

It would also build a number of other petrochemical plants including an aromatics complex using around 3 million tonnes per year of naphtha as feedstock. - Reuters