Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) expects FEED (Front End Engineering Design) activities for its blue ammonia project to be completed by the first quarter of 2025, the company said in its earnings call presentation for Q2 2024.

The company commenced FEED activities in the second quarter of 2024 for the project, which will have a 1.2 million metric tonnes capacity.

In September 2023, Sipchem received the approval of the Ministry of Energy to allocate the required quantities of feedstock to set up a blue ammonia plant.

According to the presentation, the expansion of ethylene vinyl acetate plant by International Polymers Company, an affiliate, is anticipated to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2027.

Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contracts for increasing the plant’s capacity by 70,000 tonnes annually have been awarded to SGC E&C Co. and SGC Arabia Company.

Sipchem said in its presentation that it expects market recovery to be slow without sustained demand, and lower margins were likely to increase the pressure on capacity rationalisation.

(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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