A three-way shareholders agreement to establish the Saudi Butanol Company has been signed by the Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company, Sadara Chemical Company and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC).
The new joint venture will build the first ever butanol plant in the Middle East to support the continued growth of the paints and coatings industry in Saudi Arabia. According to the announcement, it will be the largest butanol plant in the world with an annual capacity of 330,000 metric tons of n-butanol and 11,000 metric tons of iso-butanol.
Production is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2015 and total cost of the project is SR1,939 million. Saudi Kayan is a manufacturing affiliate of SABIC; Sadara is a joint venture developed by Saudi Arabian Oil Company and The Dow Chemical Company; and SAAC is an affiliate of National Industrialization Company and Sahara Petrochemicals Company.
