LLDPE cast stretch film plant will be built at Jubail

Swedish film converter TrioPlast is set to establish a cast stretch film plant in Saudi Arabia in a joint venture with Mada Group for Industrial & Commercial Investment. The LLDPE plant, with initial investment of $40m (E31m), is the first for TrioPlast outside Europe and the first downstream plant at the huge oil and petrochemicals complex in Jubail.

Production capacity is planned to reach 100,000tpa of cast stretch film within five years. The initial production rate will be 25,000tpa when it starts up at the beginning of the second quarter 2007. The joint venture has signed a contract with SCADO of Saudi Arabia to be the engineering consulting firm. The first two film production lines have also been ordered from Battenfeld Gloucester.

The plant will cover more than 60,000 sq metres and will be fully integrated back to the oil fields and cracker. Transportation of polyethylene raw materials to the film production facility will therefore not need to involve trucking.