Saipem in for US$ 209 million petrochem project

Italian contractor Saipem has been awarded a US$ 209 million contract for the delayed Petro Rabigh II chemical plant expansion project, in Saudi Arabia.

The expansion was originally due for completion in December last year, before getting delayed by nine months in January this year.

Saipem’s 30-month contract comprises building a plant to process and recover vanadium and a unit to dispose of caustic soda. The company will also build chemicals storage facilities.

The Rabigh II expansion project involves a major expansion of its facilities along with some new build, which will use petrochemical feedstock to produce high-value specialty chemicals.

It will also expand the production capacity of the ethane cracker to process an additional 30 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) of ethane and add a new naphtha reformer/aromatics complex processing more than 2.7 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of naphtha.

Once completed, the whole complex will increase its capacity to 5 mtpa of petrochemical products and 15 mtpa of refined petroleum products.