Accord signed for steel plant
Al Rajhi Group and Italy’s Danieli Company have signed an accord to establish a SR950 million ($253 million) steel factory in Jeddah with a production capacity of 850,000 tonnes per year (tpy).

Mohammed A Al Rajhi, chairman of the group, and Dario Fabro, executive vice-president of Danieli Co, signed the accord. Saudi Deputy Minister of Industry Saleh Al Hussaini said the joint venture reflected the international community’s confidence in the Saudi economy, which he reminded the gathering was the largest in the Middle East.
Al Rajhi Group has said it will play a key part in the government’s Saudisation programme and announced it would employ 250 Saudis at the plant.  The project will be completed by 2006.

Fertiliser plant to be built in Bahrain
A plant for producing organic agricultural fertilisers will be set up in 2005 at Bahrain’s Hidd Industrial Zone.
The project, which costs BD2 million ($5.2 million), is a joint venture between the Abdulla Nass Group of Factories and a Russian factory registered in the UK and the UAE, press reports said.
The entire production will be exported, mainly to the GCC states and the US after ratification of the Free Trade Agreement.
Bahraini municipalities and the Ministry of Agriculture have approved samples of the organic fertilisers after tests on Bahraini soil.   

Study completed for EDC plant
South Korea’s LG International (LGI) has completed a feasibility study to build a 300,000 tonnes per year (tpy) ethylene dichloride (EDC) plant in Oman’s northeastern city of Sohar.
A project official said LGI was expected to start negotiations with state-run Oman Oil Company (OCC) in the hope the Omani firm will become a partner in the project, which is to be completed in 2007.    
“There is also a possibility that LGI will ask another partner, possibly a local private company to spread the business risk,” the project official said.
The South Korean company has already formed a partnership with OOC to build a polypropylene plant in Sohar, which could cost $230 million.
“I don’t see any problems in the setting up of the EDC project. LGI has extensive market contacts in the Far East, especially China, and the company will not have problems finding partners in Oman or elsewhere. This is the kind of project OOC would be interested in since it has huge market potential and will not cost more than $250 million to build,” the official said.
Industry sources said LGI might contact local companies such as Suhail Bahwan and Omzest to join the venture.
“These companies have both the financial muscle and international experience. They may not pass up an opportunity like that if approached,” one industry source said. Oman is promoting a number of projects in the country and has introduced reforms including tax holidays to attract foreign investors.

Agreements signed
Gulf Farabi Petrochemical Company Limited in Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with SNC-Lavalin to execute the SR1.218 billion ($338 million) n-Paraffin and Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant project.
SNC-Lavalin will provide engineering, procurement, construction management and commissioning services for the project. Some 120,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of n-Paraffin and 70,000 tpy of LAB are to be produced, beginning 2006.
N-Paraffin is prepared from kerosene, and then used to produce LAB, the basic raw material for detergents. The plant will be located adjacent to the existing Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery (Sasref) at Al Jubail, which will supply the kerosene for  n-Paraffin production.
“SNC-Lavalin’s ability to offer international clients a wide range of global complementary expertise is one of our key strengths,” said John Hutchinson, senior vice president and general manager for SNC-Lavalin’s chemicals and petroleum international business unit.
“SNC-Lavalin’s joint venture office with Saud Consult in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, will also be making an important contribution to the success of this project.”

Petrochemical firm established
The Riyadh-based Al Zamil Group has established Sahara Petrochemical Company with a capital of SR1.5 billion ($397 million), to invest in the kingdom’s petrochemical industry.
Al Zamil Group has completed all the formalities to establish a new holding company that will invest in the kingdom’s petrochemicals sector, said a press statement issued by the group.
Sahara Petrochemical Company will invest in two petrochemical projects in Jubail. The first project will produce polypropylene in partnership with Bassell. The second project will establish an ethylene complex in collaboration with national and international partners, the statement said.

Saudi firm in Tunisia venture
A Saudi company, Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi & Brothers, has signed a SR146 million partnership agreement with US firm Crown Holdings Inc to build a beverage cans factory in Tunisia.
Saudi press reports said the factory would have an initial production capacity of 635 million cans per year. Production is due to begin in mid-2005. The cans will be marketed in North Africa.
The project is the third overseas venture that Al Gosaibi Group will conduct in partnership with Crown Holdings. The two have set up factories in Jordan and the UAE.    In Saudi Arabia they have plants in Jeddah and Dammam. Crown Holding Inc, based in the US state of Pennsylvania, supplies packaging products to companies around the world.

Cement plant coming up in Morocco
A new cement production line is to be constructed in Bouskoura, close to Morocco’s economic capital, Casablanca.
The new plant will increase Moroccos’s cement production capacity by almost one million tonnes annually, said a report.
Morocco is one of North Africa’s major cement producers and has close ties with European businesses.
Paris-based multinational Lafarge said its Casablanca-based subsidiary Lafarge Ciments had decided to build a new production line in Bouskoura to increase cement capacity by over 900,000 tonnes. This investment will significantly reinforce the plant’s profitability, Lafarge said in a release.
“The production is scheduled to start at the beginning of 2006. The project is expected to create value quickly, due to market growth,” the company added.
Lafarge has a 50 per cent stake in Lafarge Ciments with Morocco’s Société Nationale d’Investissement (SNI) being the other partner.
The Franco-Moroccan company already has four cement plants in Bouskoura, Tangiers, Meknes and Tetouan, and a total capacity of 4.2 million tonnes annually.