Sadara Integrated Chemicals Complex

Client: Sadara Chemical Company

Location: Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia

Business Segment: Energy Solutions

Industry: Chemicals

Services: Engineering and DesignProcurementConstruction

Map showing the location of Sadara Integrated Chemicals Complex

Executive Summary

Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara) is a joint venture developed by Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow). Saudi Aramco is one of the leading energy suppliers in the world. Dow Chemical is one of the world's largest specialty materials companies. Together, the companies formed Sadara Chemical Company. Fluor was selected to perform work related to the world-scale Sadara integrated chemicals complex in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The project was estimated to be a $20 billion investment.

Client's Challenge

Sadara's challenge was to own and operate the integrated chemicals complex. The integrated facility was designed to be the largest petrochemical facility to be built in a single phase.

It would contain 26 chemical manufacturing units for ethylene (approximately 1.4 million tons per year) and propylene (approximately 400,000 tons per year), in addition to a differentiated slate of other plastics and chemical products.

Fluor's Solution

Fluor provided engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) services for all utilities and offsites at the complex. We also created an around-the-clock execution approach with overall project leadership from Farnborough, UK, working with the Houston, U.S.; Manila, Philippines; and Al Khobar, KSA offices.

Part of our scope on this mega-project included the following three different areas:

Utilities, Power and Infrastructure (UPI) – incorporating steam generation, power distribution, interconnecting facilities and waste treatment
Site Development and Logistics (SDL) – includes offsite pipeline and port facilities and buildings
Chemicals II Shared Systems (Chem. II ESS (SSC)) – includes isocyanates shared systems, shared laboratory facilities (SLF) and sample transportation systems

Fluor has a long-standing relationship with Dow, having previously been selected to carry out other chemicals projects. Responsibilities were divided into eight work packages executed among four of our offices. This ensured that the infrastructure and its interconnecting arrangements would be available in a timely manner, a vital component of the unprecedented project.

Conclusion

The complex and adjacent factories produce chemicals used to manufacture materials for energy, transportation and electronics clients in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The Sadara project is thought to be one of the largest single-phase developments in the world.

The project consists of 26 process plants with associated utilities and offsite scopes to produce approximately 3 million tons/year of performance value-added chemical and plastic products. The facility's first units to start production began in 2015, with the remaining units planned to be brought onstream by Sadara in 2016 and 2017.