An affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), the Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company (SAUDI KAYAN), today (Saturday, May 31, 2008) entered into US$6 billion financing arrangements (SR 22.5 billion ) for 15 years with a group of banks and financial institutions to finance part of the expenses of building its new (Saudi Kayan) complex in Jubail Industrial City.

The complex will be the world's largest integrated petrochemical complex. The financing package is diverse and includes local, regional, international, Islamic and export credit agency debt. Saudi Kayan was advised by Arab Banking Corporation, BNP Paribas and Samba. The initial Mandated Lead Arrangers are ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Arab Banking Corporation, BNP Paribas, HSBC Bank plc and Samba Financial Group. The export credit agencies are ECGD, KEIC, K-EXIM and SACE. The Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is also providing finance to the Project. Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation is providing an Islamic working capital facility.

Mutlaq Hamad Al-Morished, SAUDI KAYAN Chairman and SABIC Vice President, Corporate Finance, signed the agreements on behalf of SAUDI KAYAN. The SAUDI KAYAN complex, currently under construction, is expected to go on-stream in 4th Q 2010 with a total annual capacity of approximately 6 MTA of a variety of petrochemical products including: ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene glycol and a series of specialized products that will be produced locally for the first time such as: aminoethanols, aminomethyls, dimethylformamide, dimethylethanol, dimethylethanolamine, ethoxylates, and polycarbonate, acetone and others.

Al-Morished stressed SABIC s keenness to diversify the sources of financing for its projects and to optimize the utilization of available funding sources, especially Islamic financing.

SABIC holds a 35 per cent. of the shareholding in SAUDI KAYAN with a private shareholder, Al Kayan Petrochemical Company, holding a further 20 per cent. The remaining 45 per cent. is held by Saudi shareholders following an initial public offering last year.