Dow-Saudi Aramco JV Sadara starts fourth polyethylene production unit

The petrochemical complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, continues to make steady progress on its start-up and commercialisation activities. Sadara’s mixed feed cracker - the largest single unit at the facility - began operations in August 2016. The first three polyethylene production units came online in December 2015, April 2016 and September 2016, and each are reactor qualified and have met their license warranty runs. Thirty two polyethylene products have been qualified to date, serving more than 350 customers in 58 countries. Construction of all of Sadara’s 26 production facilities was completed in December 2016.

“Sadara’s plastics units enable Dow to offer a technology-differentiated portfolio in expanding economies across Asia Pacific, India, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Our customers have been eagerly anticipating this new volume and will benefit from Sadara’s broad product offering and close proximity to these fast-growing regions,” said Jim Fitterling, Dow’s president and chief operating officer.

The remaining units at the complex are on schedule for a sequenced start-up throughout 2017, including ethylene oxide, propylene oxide and their derivatives (butyl glycol ethers, propylene glycol, amines, and polyols) and isocyanates.

The Sadara chemical complex is the largest of its kind ever built in a single phase. The more than three million metric tonnes of performance-focused products will add new value chains to the Kingdom’s vast petroleum reserves, resulting in the diversification of the economy and region.