Saudi Arabia’s oil refining and petrochemical plant, Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co (PetroRabigh), has started exporting small quantities of polymers, reports Reuters.

PetroRabigh, an export-oriented joint venture between state oil giant Saudi Aramco, and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical, started partial operations of its facilities in the fourth quarter of 2008.
An ethane cracker which can produce 1.25 million tonnes per year of ethylene is running well, the source said.
Aramco and Sumitomo paired up in 2005 to upgrade a 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery and added a petrochemical complex, the largest in the region.
The upgrade also added a 200,000 bpd vacuum distillation unit, a 92,000 bpd catalytic cracking unit and a 26,000 bpd alkylation unit. A gas plant will produce 900,000 tonnes per year of propylene, feedstock for petrochemical production.
The exports are likely to find their way into China, traders said.
“China is now the only market without a surplus, so very likely this will be getting shipped off there,” an Asian based trader said.
Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical are looking for firms interested in building the first stage of a giant joint-venture petrochemical complex in the kingdom.
“They issued a solicitation of interest a few days ago,” said a source at a contracting firm that received the offer. “Everybody hopes this means they are going ahead with the project.”
Aramco said recently that the plant would start up in 2015, two years behind the initial schedule.
It has also delayed plans to expand capacity at the Ras Tanura refinery by 400,000 bpd, which will supply the petrochemical feedstock. The state oil giant has delayed several large projects to save money on contracting costs. Aramco wants project bids to reflect the slump in commodity, labour and equipment prices with the global economic downturn.