Established in December 2012, The Saudi Butanol Co. (SaBuCo) was registered by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry, receiving approval for its previously announced butanol plant, which will be the world’s largest. SaBuCo’s board recently held its first meeting in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
The project’s three partners are Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co., a manufacturing affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC); Sadara Chemical Co., a joint venture developed by Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and The Dow Chemical Company; and Saudi Acrylic Acid Co., owned by TSOC, an affiliate of Tasnee Co. and Sahara Petrochemicals Co.
With an estimated investment of $517 million, SaBuCo will build the first-ever butanol plant in the Middle East, to be located at Tasnee’s Petrochemical Complex in Jubail Industrial City. Tasnee will also operate the plant, which is scheduled to go on-stream in 2015, with a design capacity of 330,000 metric tons (m.t.) per year of n-butanol and 11,000 m.t./yr of iso-butanol. It will create an estimated 200 new job opportunities.