Saudi Methanol Co. has let contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for construction of a third methanol unit at its Al-jubail petrochemical plant on Saudi Arabia's Persian Gulf coast.
The Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (Sabic) affiliate said the 850,000 metric ton/year unit will enhance the position of what is already the world's largest single complex methanol production site.
Announcing the contract, Sabic Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Ibrahim A. Ibn Salamah said the new unit will raise the site's production capacity to 2.2 million metric tons/year.
The new plant will boost Sabic's total methanol production capacity to more than 3.5 million metric tons/year.
Sabic noted that, besides being used as a basic component for gasoline oxygenate methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), methanol could be used as a feedstock for future production of formaldehyde and derivatives in Saudi Arabia.
Sabic last year predicted strong growth in demand for MTBE beyond 2000. MTBE demand was predicted to rise to 36 million metric tons/year in 2005 from 24 million metric tons this year (OGJ, Nov. 28,1994, p. 30).
Copyright 1995 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
