Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) has let a contract to John Wood Group PLC, Aberdeen, to provide industrial services for the Olefins 6 plant at subsidiary SABIC UK Petrochemicals Ltd.’s Teesside petrochemicals complex in Wilton, UK.
Effective immediately, Wood will provide rope access, scaffolding, insulation, and coatings services to support pipework and vessel inspections at the site, the service provider said.
This latest contract follows Wood’s more than 10 years of previous contracts for delivery of engineering, procurement, and construction management services at the Olefins 6 plant, Wood Group said.
Wood Group disclosed neither a value of the contract nor any additional details regarding its scope of work under the agreement.
Purchased from Huntsman Petrochemicals (UK) Ltd. in 2007, the Teeside complex produces ethylene from an originally 865,000-tonne/year naphtha cracker that SABIC plans to modify into a gas cracker based on low-cost ethane feedstock to be imported from the US (OGJ Online, Aug. 18, 2018; Sept. 28, 2006).
In its 2017 board of directors’ report, SABIC said it completed the first phase of the gas cracking plant project in 2016, which included development of the site’s existing plant with the first ethane-cracking process as well as construction of a new reservoir dedicated to receiving ethane from gas tankers and all logistic installations for unloading.
While the project was designed to increase production by nearly 250,000 tpy, with improved design and operation, the production capacity could be increased to more than 300,000 tpy, according to the report.
Still under design and subject to cost calculation, the project’s second phase will focus on expanding the plant to reach a production capacity of 600,000 tpy.
SABIC said it will take a final investment decision on the project’s second phase based on results of completed design work and final cost estimates.
The operator, however, did not disclose a timeframe for FID on Phase 2.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
