Saudi Arabia/ MHI Receives Order For 850,000t/y Methanol Plant

Comline Chemicals Wire Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has received an order for the construction of
Saudi Methanol Company's (ARRAZI) fourth methanol plant with an
850,000t/y capacity. ARRAZI is a fiftyfifty joint venture between
Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and a group of Japanese
companies including Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co.

The plant will be constructed in Al Jubail and will adopt a process of
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical. The construction is scheduled to be completed in
May 1999. Neither investment value nor order amount has been announced.

The methanol production capacity of ARRAZI, which currently stands at
1.4 million t/y, will be raised to 2.25 million t/y by the end of this
year and to 3.1 million t/y in 1999 when the fourth methanol plant is to
be completed.

Accordingly, the total methanol production capacity of SABIC will also be
expanded to 4.5 million t/y.

As for MTBE produced from methanol, SABIC has a production and supply
capacity of about 3 million t/y, which is the largest in the world.

Des: ZSC00/ZG000/YAD11 Ref: Japan Chemical Week, 05/15/97, p. 12

[Copyright 1997, Comline]