Jubail United Petrochemical Company (United), an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), has completed the signing of a 4.33 billion Saudi riyal ($1.2 billion) loan facility for construction of its manufacturing plants currently being built at its site in Al-Jubail Industrial City. 

The loan was signed by a group of regional and international banks and an additional SR 1.5 billion ($400 million) is being provided by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Riyadh Bank acted as agent for the loan and Gulf International Bank acted as independent financial advisor. 

United is the 17th and latest Sabic affiliate in Saudi Arabia and is due to start production in the second half of 2004. It will have annual production capacity of one million tons of ethylene, 575,000 tons of ethylene glycol and 150,000 tons of linear alpha olefins. The company also has a 50 percent stake in an 800,000 mt/y polyethylene plant being built at the neighboring Sabic affiliate in Jubail, Petrokemya (Arabian Petrochemical Company). 

The Middle East's largest petrochemicals company, Sabic, is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1976, when the Saudi Arabian Government decided to use hydrocarbon gases released in the production of oil as raw material for the production of chemicals, polymers and fertilizers. The Saudi Arabian Government owns 70 percent of SABIC shares, with the remaining 30 percent held by private investors in Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). — (menareport.com) 

© 2003 Mena Report ()