The Dow Chemical Company and Saudi Aramco set up a joint venture to build what will be the largest chemical factory in the industrial city of Jubail. The factory will be one of the largest integrated chemical sites in the world, and is also the largest chemical factory ever to have been built in one go. It is intended that an annual total of more than 2 million tonnes of chemical products and high-performance plastics will be produced for use in the fields of energy, transportation, infrastructure and consumer goods. Planning was started as early as 2007. Before this took place, comprehensive project feasibility studies were necessary to obtain approval for the new “Sadara Chemical Company” joint venture.
The first of 26 production units is intended to be commissioned in the second half of 2015, with completion and total commissioning expected in 2016. It is expected that only a few years after commissioning, Sadara will have annual sales of around USD 10B – the total investment in the project amounted to about USD 20B. AS-Schneider was awarded the contract to supply the commissioned EPCs with Dow Chemical’s installation hardware technology that has been tried and tested for many years.