THE HAGUE, The Netherlands—Arlanxeo plans to build a 140,000-metric-ton synthetic rubber production plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
The facility will produce neodymium-catalysed ultra-high cis-polybutadiene rubber (NdBR) and lithium butadiene rubber (LiBR), the company said in a May 23 press release.
Fully owned by Arlanxeo, the unit will be built at the Amiral complex—a $10 billion petrochemicals project, launched last December by Saudi Aramco and Total Energies.
Scheduled for commercial startup in 2027, the Amiral complex will be integrated with the petchem partner'' existing Satorp refinery in Jubail on Saudi Arabia's eastern coast.
The NdBR/LiBR plant will source butadiene feedstock from Satorp, according to Olivier Thorel, chairman of Arlanxeo's shareholders' committee and senior vice president of chemicals at Saudi Aramco.