Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) said it had signed credit facilities worth 4.5 billion riyals ($1.2 billion) as part of overall project funding at the world's biggest petrochemicals group. SABIC signed the deal with Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank (NCB), according to a stock market statement on Tuesday.

The news comes two weeks after Saudi bank Alinma said it would grant a $1 billion credit facility to SABIC. A SABIC spokesman could not immediately say whether the Alimna facility had been signed in the meantime.

SABIC's financial arm SABIC Capital last month delayed a benchmark dollar bond issue due to jitters that hit global credit markets over fiscal problems in some euro zone countries. Between July 2006 and May 2008, state-controlled SABIC raised 16 billion riyals from three Islamic bond issues. It raised 2 billion riyals in December 2009 from a private bond placement.

A typical benchmark bond issue is for a minimum $500 million. SABIC said it has to repay 5.54 billion riyals in long-term loans in 2010 and 11.26 billion riyals in 2011.