Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company (SAUDI KAYAN) announced that it has begun trial operations of its olefins plant at its complex in Jubail Industrial City as of July 25.

  

The announcement was made in a statement by Mutlaq Al-Morished, SAUDI KAYAN Chairman and SABIC Executive Vice President, Finance, who also noted that construction contracts for the complex had been signed during a time of sharp rises in construction costs worldwide. He also noted that turnkey contracts were not used at the time due to such high constructions costs, including high labor costs in the region and the inevitable  engineering amendments that must be introduced during the construction of project facilities to meet the needs of all plants. As a result, he noted, it is expected the total cost of the project will increase by nearly 24 percent, or approximately SR 9 billion.

The company is now working on funding arrangements with one or more banks to cover the increase in costs, with support from major shareholders to ensure complete implementation of all plants at the company’s complex on time.

When completed, the complex will be the world's largest integrated petrochemical complex and will produce 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.