KBR to expand SABIC butadiene unit at Al Jubail

KBR has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) for the debottlenecking and expansion of its Petrokemya butadiene extraction plant in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

Arabian Petrochemical Company (Petrokemya), a wholly-owned affiliate of SABIC, is one of the largest manufacturing sites in Al Jubail. 

The site has an installed capacity of approximately 5.15 million tpy of petrochemicals including olefins, PVC / VCM, polystyrene and polyethylene plants, in addition to utilities and steam generation.

The butadiene extraction plant was built in 1993 with a capacity of 123,000 tpy. Petrokemya plans to significantly expand the capacity of the plant. This expansion is part of Petrokemya and SABIC’s vision and strategic business plan with a view of growing market demands in the downstream petrochemical market.

“This contract award for the Petrokemya Butadiene Debottleneck Project demonstrates KBR’s world-class petrochemical execution and delivery capabilities within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," said Stuart Bradie, KBR’s president and CEO.

Expected revenue from the contract was included in the third quarter 2014 backlog of unfilled orders for KBR's hydrocarbons segment. The contract value was not disclosed.