SABIC still Committed to Sinopec JV on Tianjin Cracker
SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) said on Wednesday it remains fully committed to the cracker project at Tianjin in China with state-owned refiner Sinopec, dismissing market speculations it might pull out of the joint venture.
"China is the most important market for SABIC and we plan to continue growing our business in China," said the company in an e-mailed statement to ICIS news.
Speculations surfaced in the past few weeks that the Saudi major was considering to abandon the 1m tonne/year cracker project as market sources said there were disagreements over infrastructure issues.
The Tianjin cracker's derivative plants would include a 300,000 tonne/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant, a 300,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit and a 400,000 tonne/year ethylene glycol (EG) plant, according to an earlier report from ICIS news.
One source close to the joint venture had said that SABIC "seemed to be dragging its feet" and still had not told Sinopec if it would truly take a stake in the project.
"SABIC has not made clear its intention and Sinopec did not think it was obligated to ask SABIC," said another source close to the project.
"There had been some disagreements on the infrastructure, and there was talk that the [early April] signing ceremony to confirm [SABIC’s involvement] could be postponed," said a third source close to SABIC.
Sinopec officials declined to expound on the issue. They maintained that the project is still slated to start up by the end of the year.
"China is the most important market for SABIC and we plan to continue growing our business in China," said the company in an e-mailed statement to ICIS news.
Speculations surfaced in the past few weeks that the Saudi major was considering to abandon the 1m tonne/year cracker project as market sources said there were disagreements over infrastructure issues.
The Tianjin cracker's derivative plants would include a 300,000 tonne/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant, a 300,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit and a 400,000 tonne/year ethylene glycol (EG) plant, according to an earlier report from ICIS news.
One source close to the joint venture had said that SABIC "seemed to be dragging its feet" and still had not told Sinopec if it would truly take a stake in the project.
"SABIC has not made clear its intention and Sinopec did not think it was obligated to ask SABIC," said another source close to the project.
"There had been some disagreements on the infrastructure, and there was talk that the [early April] signing ceremony to confirm [SABIC’s involvement] could be postponed," said a third source close to SABIC.
Sinopec officials declined to expound on the issue. They maintained that the project is still slated to start up by the end of the year.
quoted from: www.ICIS.com
