Petro Rabigh awards ethylene expansion to JGC unit

Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co., a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co., has awarded a contract to JGC Gulf International Co. Ltd. to expand ethylene capacity at Petro Rabigh’s refinery and chemicals complex on the Red Sea.

Part of the Phase 2 expansion at the site, the lump-sum contract calls for engineering, procurement, and construction. The expanded plant will be able to produce 300,000 tonnes/year of ethylene and is to be completed in 2015. JCG Gulf is a wholly owned, Saudi Arabia-based unit of JGC Corp.

Petro Rabigh announced in March 2009 that it was studying the expansion (OGJ Online, Mar. 23, 2009).

The recent JGC announcement said that Petro Rabigh has been operating a refining and petrochemicals complex—Rabigh 1—while it was conducting the feasibility study for Rabigh 2. The ethylene plant that JGC Gulf will be expanding can produce as much as 1.3 million tpy. It was built by JGC Yokohama and started up in 2008 as a part of Rabigh 1.