Jubail Chemical's Saudi Epoxy Resins Expansion Under Way

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Jubail Chemical Industries Company (Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia) is under way with an expansion on its epoxy resins unit at Jubail Industrial City. The current production capacity is 60,000 metric tons per year. Once the expansion is complete, the production capacity will double to 120,000 metric tons per year. The increased capacity should bode well for Jubail Chemical, as the company is the only producer of epoxy resins in the Middle East-North Africa region.

Jubail Chemical is acquiring the equipment and handling the specialty contractor selection on its own. Civil work was awarded and commenced this fall. Mechanical and electrical contractors will be announced this December. Construction completion was originally planned for the second half of 2012, but the project has been moving along faster than expected and could be operational and producing product in the early spring of 2012.

The unit is fitted with Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) (The Woodlands, Texas) process technology. Huntsman is considered among the "big three" epoxy resin producers in the world, along with Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) and Hexion Specialty Chemicals Incorporated (Columbus, Ohio), which became Momentive Specialty Chemicals Incorporated last month. Huntsman signed a merger agreement with Hexion in 2007, but that agreement was terminated in December 2008. Hexion paid Huntsman $325 million in termination fees. Jubail Chemical markets its epoxy resins under the brand names Araldite (Huntsman) and Razeen.

Epoxy resin is a copolymer that is formed by mixing a resin with a hardener, thereby delivering a resin that is durable and hard. Epoxy resins are cured (polymerized) by control of temperature. All types of strength variances can be achied by adjusting the temperature and time during the curing process. Epoxies are applied in a range of products, including adhesives, coatings and plastics. Major industries such as he aerospace, automotive, construction and electrical industries all rely on the availability and the variance of epoxy resins.

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