Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) has signed an agreement to use US shale gas at its Teesside petrochemical plant in the UK. Yousef Abdullah al-Benyan, Acting Chief Executive, noted that the timing of the project and further details should be available by next quarter.
"We did sign the contract, [but] we have not yet agreed with the [gas] supplier to publicly announce it,” said Benyan. "It is going to meet our full demand for the next ten years and is renewable beyond ten years.”
Scarce domestic gas supplies forced the company to look at investment opportunities abroad. Last year, SABIC said it planned to upgrade its Teesside cracker to capitalise on shale gas opportunities in the US. The company is also considering a proposal, announced by Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi last year, to build a plant able to turn crude oil directly into chemicals, without first having to refine the oil.
Edited from various sources by Rosalie Starling
Sources: Reuters, Yahoo News