Saudi Butanol Co Starts Trial Ops at Jubail Plant

Saudi Butanol Co, a joint venture of local petrochemicals firms, has begun trials of its plant in Jubail and expects commercial operations to start in the first half of 2016.

Testing will take between three and six months at the plant, a statement from Sahara Petrochemical Co said on Tuesday.

The project is owned by group consisting of Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co, Sadara Chemical Co (a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Co ) and Saudi Acrylic Acid Co (SAAC).

SAAC is an affiliate of Tasnee and Sahara.

A statement issued in March had said testing was expected to commence in the third quarter of 2015.

The project, estimated to cost around 2 billion riyals ($534 million), was expected to come on stream in the first quarter of 2015 when it was first announced in 2012.

The plant will have a capacity of 330,000 tonnes a year of n-butanol, a type of alcohol used to make other chemicals, and 11,000 tonnes a year of iso-butanol.


(Reporting by David French)