Sabic affiliate Yansab’s complex has signed several loan deals and officials said work was well on track following the completion of awards of all engineering, procurement and construction contracts.

The complex is expected to go on stream and enter the stage of commercial production in 2008. 
Yansab is one of the world’s largest petrochemical complexes with an annual capacity exceeding four million tonnes of petrochemical products including 1.3 million tonnes per year (tpy) of ethylene; 400,000 tpy of propylene; 770,000 tpy of ethylene glycol; 500,000 tpy of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE); 400,000 tpy of high density polyethylene (HDPE); 400,000 tpy of polypropylene; 100,000 tpy of butene-1 and butane-2 and 250,000 tpy of benzene, xylene and toluene compound.
The complex will boost Sabic’s contribution to the national economy and strengthen its competitive capabilities in the global markets. There will also be 1,500 job opportunities for Saudi nationals.
In the latest development, Yansab signed a package of loan contracts and facilities agreements valued at SR13.125 billion ($3.5 billion) with the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and a group of local, regional and global banks to fund the construction of its petrochemical complex in Yanbu Industrial City. 
Mohamed Al-Mady, Sabic vice chairman and CEO said: “The participation of such a large number of banks and financial institutions to meet the company’s credit requirements reflects the confidence that the world financial institutions attach to a sound and solid Saudi economy as well as the petrochemical industry in the kingdom”.
Yansab will make use of the Islamic loans to finance a great deal of the capital investment. Mutlaq Al-Morished, chairman of the Yansab board of directors and Sabic vice president for corporate finance, explained that the European export credit agencies’ contribution to these loans amounts totaled SR2.625 billion, which is equal to 29 per cent of the commercial financing. This clearly reflected the confidence of those institutions in the future of Yansab and the petrochemical industry in the kingdom as a whole.  He added that confidence was also reflected through the number of participating banks. There are 19 in all, including nine international and three regional banks.
Yansab is a Saudi joint stock company in which Sabic owns 55 per cent. A group of 17 local and regional companies owns 10 per cent of the company’s shares. Saudi citizens own 35 per cent following a public subscription process, which was described as the largest of its kind in the Saudi market.
While Yansab is set to be Sabic’s latest star in Yanbu, several other companies of the petrochemical giant are making a mark.   
The Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company (Yanpet) is a 50/50 joint venture with Exxon Mobil (USA). Its product range includes ethylene, polyethylene and ethylene glycol. King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz laid the foundation stone for Yanpet-2 last summer. Feedstocks will include ethane, styrene, propane, butane and light naphtha.
There is an expanding market demand for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle packaging throughout the Gulf and the Arabian Industrial Fibers Company’s (Ibn Rushd) bottle grade chips (BGCs) have met this demand.
Ibn Rushd, a fully integrated polyester-manufacturing complex, is a national joint venture between Sabic and Saudi industrial partners.  Sabic holds a 51.7 per cent stake and 15 Saudi and regional private sectors share the remaining part.
The plant came on stream in 1995 producing polyester textile chips, textile staple, BGCs and carpet staple. Its current product range includes aromatics (xylenes and benzene), purified terephthalic acid (PTA), polyester textile chips, textile staples, BGCs and carpet staples.
Ibn Rushd’s feedstock includes ethylene glycol and butane. The plant’s commissioning is considered a milestone in Saudi Arabia’s industrial diversification, laying the groundwork for the launch of a national textile industry by providing textile staple and yarn.
Ibn Rushd recently signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with EPC Engineering & Consulting GmbH for the preparation of basic design package and performance of other related engineering services for the PET conversion and de-bottlenecking project at the Ibn Rushd complex, in Yanbu.
Awadh M Al-Maker, president of Ibn Rushd said the project was expected to go on-stream by Q3 2007, with an annual capacity exceeding 300,000 tonnes of  BGCs. This includes conversion of all polymer lines to produce these chips.
“This annual capacity increase/conversion will further enhance Sabic’s position among PET producers and strengthen its competitive and leading capabilities in the regional marketplace,” he said.
He further pointed out that the conversion project would require installing two new solid state polymerisation units in order to produce BGCs from the de-bottlenecked polymer lines.