It is going to be bigger, more expensive, and will come on stream in three years: the mixed-feed cracker at the Satorp (www.satorp.com) refinery in Saudi Arabia is now to cost USD 11 bn (EUR 10.34 bn) and will have a capacity of 1.65 mn t/y instead of 1.5 mn t/y of ethylene. Construction of the complex, announced in 2018, is to start in early 2023 under the Amiral project name, with commissioning now planned for 2027 (see Plasteurope.com of 12.10.2018).

A final investment decision has been announced by the two Satorp partners, Saudi Aramco (Dhahran; www.saudiaramco.com), with 62.5% of the shares, and TotalEnergies (Paris; www.total.com) with 37.5%.

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The cracker in Al Jubail on the east coast of Saudi Arabia is to be fed equally with ethane gas and naphtha and will be directly integrated into the refinery. The companies have also planned two world-scale polyethylene lines – presumably around 600,000 t/y each – and a butadiene extraction plant, the scale of which was not disclosed; at least 200,000 t/y is likely.

The partners are hoping for further follow-up investments worth billions in the areas of additives, carbon fibres, lubricants and the like.