Cracker start-up as complex nears completion / MOU is signed for Rabigh II feasibility study

摘要

Petro Rabigh (Rabigh / Saudi Arabia; www.petrorabigh.com) has begun operating its 1.3m t/y ethylene cracker at Rabigh on the Red Sea. The unit is central to the USD 1.3 bn petrochemicals complex being built at the site, which is currently in the final stages of construction. Ethylene produced by the cracker will be supplied to derivative plants on the complex to be used in the manufacture of polyethylene and MEG. The company, a joint venture between state oil company Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo, has also begun operating a new vacuum-distillation unit and vacuum-gas oil hydrotreat-ers in preparation for the start up of a second cracking unit, which is expected to produce 900,000 t/y of propylene and 59,000 t/y of gasoline.