Trader Mitsui to Join Saudi Petrochemical Project

Tokyo, Feb. 8 (Jiji Press)–Mitsui & Co. is in talks to take part in a major petrochemical project in Saudi Arabia, informed sources said Thursday.

The project will be led by Saudi International Petrochemical Co. Other possible participants include U.S. chemicals maker E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and Britain’s Lucite International Ltd.

Participants are expected to reach an agreement in the near future. The total cost of the project is estimated at 7 billion dollars, or some 840 billion yen. Of them, Mitsui is seen to provide tens of billions of yen.

The project envisages the construction of a petrochemical plant capable of producing 18 types of products such as ethyrene and polypropyrene from natural gas. The plant’s output will be one of the largest in the world, with operations to start in 2011.

For Mitsui, the Saudi project will be its first major petrochemical project in the Middle East since it withdrew from a joint project in Iran in 1989.END

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