Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) has two large industrial sites in Saudi Arabia, one in Jubail and the other in Yanbu.

It is the world’s single largest producer and exporter of granular urea and one the world’s top producers of olefins. It is the fourth largest producer of polyolefins and polypropylene, and the third largest producer of polyethylene.
One of its Jubail companies is the Jubail Petrochemical Company (Kemya), which is a 50/50 Sabic joint venture with US-based Exxon Mobil (USA). The company produces polyethylene and ethylene under top quality-control regimes. Its feedstocks are ethane and propane.
Among other Sabic companies in Jubail are:
The Saudi Petrochemical Company (Sadaf), a 50/50 Sabic joint venture with Pecten Arabian, a subsidiary of US-based Shell Oil Company. The product range includes ethylene, crude industrial ethanol, styrene, caustic soda, ethylene dichloride and MTBE.
Its feedstocks include ethane, salt, benzene, methanol and butane.
Jubail United Petrochemical Company (United) is a wholly owned affiliate of Sabic. Its products are ethylene, polyethylene, ethylene glycol and linear alpha olefins. Ethane is the feedstock for United products.
National Methanol Company (Ibn Sina) is a 50/50 Sabic joint venture with CTE, owned by US-based Duke Energy and Hoechst-Celanese.
Its product range is chemical-grade methanol and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). Sabic produced 3.3 million tonnes of MTBE last year compared to 2.9 million tonnes in 2004. Last year, the company produced four million tonnes of methanol against 4.1 million tonnes in 2004.
Various measures are continuously being taken to increase MTBE production. These include maximising unit throughputs and conversion levels and optimising plant parameters to achieve improved yields. Ibn Sina’s feedstocks are methane and butane.
Saudi Methanol Company (Ar Razi) is a 50/50 Sabic joint venture formed in 1971 with a consortium of Japanese companies led by Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company.
The company produces special-grade methanol by using methane as feedstock. The production facility is located in Jubail. Its quality processes meet the best international practices.
Ar Razi is in the midst of its fifth expansion project. It has awarded the contract for engineering and construction to a Japanese company. The project is expected to go on stream in Q1 of 2008 with methanol production capacity of 1.7 million tpy.
Methane is the feedstock involved. The company’ prospects are good and with an expansion project set to on stream by 2008, its position will be further consolidated.
The Eastern Petrochemical Company (Sharq) has entered into a loan agreement to raise SR9.11 billion for its third expansion project. The consortium includes the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Public Investment Fund and local and international banks.
New plants under this expansion are expected to go on stream during the second half of 2008, with an annual capacity of 1.3 million tpy of ethylene, 700,000 tpy of ethylene glycol, 400,000 tpy of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and 400,000 tpy of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). With the addition of new capacity, Sharq’s overall annual capacity is expected to exceed 4.9 million tpy, more than 10 times the initial annual capacity at the very beginning, which was 430,000 tpy, besides becoming the world’s largest producer of ethylene glycol at one site.
Sharq was founded on 23 May 1981 as a joint venture, equally owned by Sabic and SPDC LTD (a consortium of Japanese companies led by Mitsubishi Group and supported by Japanese Government).
Among important announcements of recent months was one that said Sabic had become a strategic partner in the formation of Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company. This follows the signing of partnership agreements with Kayan for the establishment of a public stock company. The new company’s capital amounts to SR12 billion.
The new company, to be located in Jubail, will have an annual production capacity exceeding four million tonnes of petrochemical and chemical products.  Sabic will hold 35 per cent of the company’s capital,  Kayan 20 per cent and the public the remainder
Mohamad Al-Mady, Sabic vice chairman and CEO  expects the new company will go live in 2009. It will add some specialised chemicals to the Saudi marketplace that will be produced in Saudi Arabia for the first time. These products include aminoethanols, aminomethyls, dimethylformamide, choline chloride, dimethylethanol, dimethylethanolamine, ethoxylates, phenol, cumene and polycarbonate. This is in addition to ethylene, propylene, polypropylene, ethylene glycol, butene-1 and other products, which will provide wide opportunities for downstream industries.
Sabic signed an agreement earlier this year to purchase Neste Oil’s 10 per cent stake in the Saudi European Petrochemical Company (Ibn Zahr). Following the transaction, Sabic will own 80 per cent of Ibn Zahr shares and the remaining shareholders, Apicorp and Ecofuel SpA, 10 per cent each.
Al-Mady said the agreement reflected Sabic’s capability to manage giant manufacturing plants. This agreement will further enhance Sabic’s overall operational results as Ibn Zahr is a well-run and highly profitable company and a leader in the production of MTBE and polypropylene. MTBE is an environment-friendly gasoline additive that contributes to the efforts to ensure safety, and protect health and the environment. Propylene is a thermal plastic product increasingly used in plastic’s industries, domestically and globally.
Sabic has set a new financial record. Net profits touched SR19.2 billion in 2005, a 35 per cent increase over 2004, while revenues rose to SR78 billion, a 14 per cent increase. Profit growth average over the past five years was 58 per cent and the average sales growth was 25 per cent.
The value of current assets stood at SR56 billion. Shareholder equity rose to SR62 billion, a 22 per cent increase over 2004.
Sabic is the most consistently profitable public company in the Arab world. It remains the Middle East’s biggest non-oil company and the world’s 10th largest petrochemical company.