SABIC, partner approve investment for new ethylene complex in China

Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and Fujian Energy and Petrochemical Group (FEPG) have taken positive final investment decision (FID) to proceed with construction of a grassroots olefins and derivatives complex at the Gulei Petrochemical Industrial Park (GPIP) in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, China.

To be owned and operated by SABIC Fujian Petrochemicals Co. Ltd. (SFPCL)—a joint venture of SABIC-FEPG subsidiaries SABIC Industrial Investment Co. (51%) and Fujian Fuhua Gulei Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (49%)—the proposed complex will consist of a mixed-feed steam cracker equipped to produce up to 1.8 million tonnes/year (tpy) of ethylene as feedstock for a series of downstream units that will produce polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene glycol, polycarbonate, and other yet-to-be-identified fine chemicals, SABIC said.

Approved for FID on Jan. 22 at an overall estimated cost of $6.4 billion, SFPCL’s complex is targeted for completion sometime in 2026.

To be equipped with nine of SABIC’s proprietary—but unidentified—technologies, the proposed complex specifically aims to meet for high-end chemical products for application in the electronics, artificial intelligence, smartphones, telecommunications, healthcare, automobile, and advanced materials sectors, according to SABIC.

The SFPCL project forms part of SABIC’s business expansion and development plans in China, as well as supports the company’s goals of diversifying feedstock sources and establishing its manufacturing presence for a wide range of petrochemical products across the Asia Pacific, said Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh, SABIC’s chief executive officer.

Additional project details

Formal FID on the SFPCL project follows initial approval of the proposed development by the Fujian Provincial Development and Reform Commission in midyear 2022, the Fuijan provincial government said in a June 8, 2022, release.

At that time, the SFPCL complex—for which 19 unidentified technologies had already been selected—was to have an ethylene production capacity of 1.5 million tpy and require an overall investment of 42.07 billion yuan ($6.3 billion), the government said.

Located in Gulei Port Economic Development Zone along China’s coast, on the west side the Taiwan Strait, the GPIP is one of China’s seven major petrochemical industrial bases and the only Taiwanese-funded petrochemical park on the country’s mainland, according to a Nov. 17, 2023, release from the Fuijan government.

As of yearend 2023, the GPIP housed 12 petrochemical projects in operation and 14 projects under construction, with an additional 14 projects already in the contracting phase, the government said.