SABIC to take 50% stake in ethylene project

China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) said it had signed a strategic cooperation contract with Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) to allow the latter to take a 50% stake in its Tianjin ethylene project. Meanwhile, the project will produce another new product – polycarbonate (PC), based on raw materials from SABIC. The Tianjin project required an investment of more than US$2.5 billion to build up 4 million tons per year (tpy) output capacity, including 1.2 million tpy of ethylene. Its construction will be completed by September 2009. The contract also indicates that both parties may expand cooperation to other fields, aside from engineering service, project execution, technology research, product sale and so on. The Tianjin ethylene project is SABIC’s first joint venture in China, China Securities Journal reported. (July 7, 2007)