An agreement to establish the Saudi Butanol Company, which will produce butanol to support the continued growth of the paints and coatings industry in Saudi Arabia, has been signed. The three shareholders are SAUDI KAYAN, a manufacturing affiliate of SABIC, Sadara, a joint venture developed by Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), and SAAC, an affiliate of National Industrialization Company (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemicals Company. The three partners will have equal stake in the production quantities for downstream use or for sales in the local and overseas markets

The design capacity of the plant, which will be the first ever butanol plant in the Middle East and the largest in the world, is 330,000 metric tons per annum of n-butanol and 11,000 metric tons per annum of iso-butanol. The plant is scheduled to go on-stream in 2015. It will be located at Tasnee Petrochemicals Complex, Jubail Industrial City, and will be operated by Tasnee. The estimated total cost of the project is SAR 1,939 million (EUR 390 million).

• Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company (SAUDI KAYAN), Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara), Jubail Industrial City II, Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC), Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia