Saudi Basic Industries Corporation’s (Sabic) worldwide capacity shot up substantially following the completion of purchase by the company of Huntsman Corporation’s UK base chemicals and polymers business.

The acquired manufacturing business operates an 865,000 tonnes per year (tpy) ethylene, 400,000 tpy propylene cracker and a 1.3 million tpy aromatics facility with logistical facilities at Wilton and North Tees.
Sabic will complete the construction of a new 400,000 tpy polyethylene (LDPE) plant in Wilton, Teesside. It is scheduled to come on stream by the end of 2007. Under the terms of the purchase deal, Sabic has acquired all the shares of Huntsman Petrochemicals (UK) Ltd for $700 million in cash and the new entity has been renamed Sabic UK Petrochemicals. Tthe acquisition marks a significant step in Sabic’s global growth plans. All 850 Huntsman Petrochemicals (UK) employees will transfer to Sabic. 
Sabic vice-chairman and CEO Mohamed Al-Mady and Huntsman Corporation president and CEO Peter Huntsman announced the completion of the purchase.
Commenting on the acquisition, Al-Mady said, “I am pleased that the regulators have given their unconditional approval for this deal.  This acquisition will enable us to accelerate our growth in Europe and strengthen our global market position. It will also provide additional value to our customers.”
Sabic Europe CEO Boy Litjens added: “We are fully committed to realising the full potential of this acquisition and we intend to invest and grow the business in the future, including the continued construction of the new polyethylene plant.
“We are fortunate also to have acquired a talented and committed workforce whom we welcome into the Sabic family.  We now start with the alignment and integration of the new business within our Sabic Europe organisation.”
Sabic is the largest public company in the Middle East and one of the world’s 10 largest petrochemicals manufacturers.
The company is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene, glycols, methanol, MTBE and fertilisers as well as the fourth largest polymer producer. Sabic’s profit rose to a record SR19.2 billion ($5.1 billion) in 2005, a 35 per cent increase on 2004 and the company’s highest profit since inception.
Sales revenues for 2005 totaled SR78.3 billion, making Sabic the largest and most profitable public company in the Middle East. Sabic operates six interlinked strategic business units: basic chemicals, intermediates, polyolefins, PVC and polyester, fertilisers and metals. 
The company has significant research resources and dedicated research and technology centres in Riyadh, Geleen in the Netherlands, Houston USA and Vadodara in India. 
It has more than 17,000 employees worldwide and two large production sites in Saudi Arabia – in Al Jubail and in Yanbu – comprising 18 world-scale complexes.  Some of these complexes are operated with multi-national joint venture partners such as ExxonMobil, Shell and Mitsubishi Chemicals.
Sabic’s overall production capacity has increased from 35.4 million tonnes in 2001 to 46.7 million tonnes in 2005.
Sabic Europe, headquartered in Sittard, the Netherlands, employs nearly 2,450 people and operates two petrochemical production sites in Geleen, the Netherlands and Gelsenkirchen in Germany for the production of polypropylenes, polyethylenes and liquid hydrocarbons.
In 2005, Sabic Europe produced 2.5 million tonnes of polyolefins and 3.1 million tonnes of basic chemicals, mainly for the European market.