Located on the West coast of Saudi Arabia, Yanbu is already witnessing expansions of existing facilities as well as grassroots projects.

Italy's Technip-Coflexip was awarded a contract from Sabic recently for the design and construction of an acetic acid plant at Sabic affiliate Ibn Rushd.

This 30,000 tonnes per year (tpy) acetic acid plant will, according to reports, use new acetic acid technology based on the oxidisation of ethane, which has been developed by Sabic's Research and Development centre in Riyadh.

Technip-Coflexip's scope of work includes project management, engineering, procurement of equipment and materials, construction, pre-commissioning and assistance to commissioning and start-up.

The project will be carried out by the engineering centre of Technip-Coflexip based in Rome, with the construction being handled by the Group's local affiliate Technip Saudi Arabia.

The plant is scheduled to come onstream by the beginning of the second quarter of 2004.

The acetic acid production will be used by Ibn Rushd as a feedstock to produce purified terephthalic acid (PTA), an intermediate used to manufacture polyesters.

As with its East coast cousin, Yanbu has been transformed from a quiet fishing village to an industrial giant since 1977, when the first Master Plan was drawn up.

Yanbu's undoubted strength is its strategic location on the Red Sea coast, relatively close to the Suez Canal and vital export routes.

Yanbu's King Fahd Industrial Port is the largest oil and petrochemicals exporting complex on the Red Sea. It was completed by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu in 1982 and comprises seven terminals with 25 berths, a service harbour, bulk cargo and container handling equipment, and marine support facilities.

The city's largest petrochemical producer is Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company (Yanpet), which has undergone major expansions costing an estimated $2.6 billion.

The company added a 535,000 tpy polyethylene plant, a 410,000 tpy ethylene glycol plant and a second 800,000 tpy steam cracker. The first polypropylene unit at Yanpet produces 260,000 tpy. Yanpet can now produce 1.6 million tpy of ethylene, 1.145 million tpy of polyethylene and 770,000 tpy of ethylene glycol.

Though Yanbu is currently attracting less private sector investment than Jubail, there is still considerable activity.

The National Petrochemical Industrialisation Company (NPIC) is building a new facility for the manufacture of polypropylene.