HOUSTON, Feb. 6�The Yanpet joint venture has started up a major expansion at its petrochemical complex at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, said ExxonMobil Chemical Co., a division of ExxonMobil Corp.
Yanpet is a 50:50 joint venture between Mobil Yanbu Petrochemical Co. Inc.�an affiliate of ExxonMobil Chemical�and Saudi Basic Industries Corp.
The expansion included a second 800,000 ton/year steam cracker, a 535,000 ton/year polyethylene plant, and a 410,000 ton/year ethylene glycol plant.
The complex is producing 260,000 tons/year of polypropylene, a new product line for Yanpet.
The expansion brings Yanpet ethylene capacity to 1.7 million tonnes/year. It doubles existing production of ethylene derivatives, and, ExxonMobil Chemical said, ranks Yanpet as the world's largest polyethylene manufacturing site.
"The successful start-up and operation at design rates of the Yanpet expansion demonstrates our commitment to provide our customers with quality products to meet their growing needs," said Michael J. Dolan, ExxonMobil Chemical regional director for Middle East & Africa. "It also positions ExxonMobil well to serve the global marketplace and to meet the growing demand for these chemical products."