Khobar, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Butanol Co (SABUCO), a joint venture of local petrochemicals firms, has started commercial operations at its plant in Jubail, one of the shareholders said on Sunday. Estimated to cost around 2 billion riyals (Dh1.95 billion, $533 million) when announced in 2012, the project was expected to go on stream in the first quarter of 2015. The plant will have a capacity of 330,000 tonnes a year of n-butanol, a type of alcohol used to make other chemicals, and 11,000 tonnes a year of iso-butanol. The project is owned by Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co, Sadara Chemical Co, which is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Co, and Saudi Acrylic Acid Co (SAAC). SAAC is an affiliate of National Industrialisation Co (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemical Co.
Saudi Butanol plant starts operations
Estimated to cost around $533m when announced in 2012, the project was expected to go on stream in the first quarter of 2015