The stage is set. Later this year, the world’s largest chemical complex built in a single phase will be churning out its first products.
Based in Saudi Arabia, Sadara Chemical Company is a joint venture between Dow Chemical Company and Saudi Aramco. The mega facility promises to be a game-changer for the chemicals industry by producing several chemicals in the country for the first time, and because it will help the region diversify away from a heavy reliance on crude oil exports.
This year, the company plans to begin production of ethylene and polyethylene — chemicals with wide applications in manufacturing, including plastics, molding, coatings and more. The company says it will be fully online by 2017.
Here’s a quick look inside the mammoth facility, by the numbers.
$20 billion = The total investment Dow and Saudi Aramco are pumping into the facility.
35/65 = The equity split between Dow and Saudi Aramco.
26 = The number of “world scale” manufacturing units that will be inside the complex.
14 = The plants that will produce specific chemicals in Saudi Arabia for the first time.
3 million tons = The yearly product capacity of Sadara.
$10 billion = The annual revenues Sadara is expected to deliver.
54,000 = The construction workforce that was on-site during the company’s “peak construction” phase in 2014.
$111 = The average price of a barrel when the Sadara project got underway in 2011. Because oil prices have since tanked, other major plans to invest in petrochemicals in the region have been scrapped, (including a joint venture that was planned between Royal Dutch Shell and Qatar Petroleum). But Sadara will take advantage of cheap, abundant crude in the region by using naphtha as a feedstock (a refined oil product).
100 percent = The amount of initial production already sold.
12-square kilometers = The size of the industrial park, PlasChem Park, being built next to Sadara. PlasChem will use chemicals made at Sadara to produce downstream products including textiles, car seats, toothpaste, packaging and more.
1 year = The amount of time Sadara says it will take for it to become a Fortune 500 company once it starts full production.