Sabic to start up Yanbu PET plant in January

After construction delays foiled plans to start up its new 420,000 t/ PET plant at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, in Q 4 2013, Sabic has rescheduled the start for  January 2014, news reports say.

The Saudi petrochemical giant is believed to be expanding feedstock capacity at the site, where it also operates a 330,000 t/y PET plant. Capacity for paraxylene (PX) will be doubled to 400,000 t/y and PTA capability widened to 600,000 t/y, according to the reports.

The start-up of the new PET facility comes at a time when worldwide markets for the packaging resin are already glutted, observers say.