SABIC to Build 700,000 Metric Tons Ethylene Glycol Plant

SABIC to Build 700,000 Metric Tons Ethylene Glycol Plant
TT
20

SABIC to Build 700,000 Metric Tons Ethylene Glycol Plant

SABIC to Build 700,000 Metric Tons Ethylene Glycol Plant

The Saudi Basic Industries Corps, SABIC, announced that Saudi Arabia-based Jubail United Petrochemical Co. has signed a joint venture agreement with the South Korean firm Samsung Engineering for the engineering, procurement, and construction services for the third ethylene glycol plant.

The plant will produce 700,000 million tonnes per year of mono-ethylene glycol. The project will be executed in Jubail Industrial City located in the east of Saudi Arabia, and construction is expected to be completed in 2020.

"Due to the continued expansion of its subsidiaries, SABIC has become the largest producer of ethylene glycol in the world, and with the added capacity of the new complex plant, we strive to expand our production capacity," said Abdul Rahman al-Faqih, SABIC's Executive Vice President of Petrochemicals.

He said that SABIC also seeks maintaining this position and supporting its record of achievements in the level of service and customer satisfaction, pointing out that the new plant uses innovative technologies to reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency.

He pointed out that the plant will implement advanced manufacturing procedures developed by the Scientific Design, one of SABIC’s joint ventures. This company has also developed some of the important and modern techniques and catalysts in the petrochemical industry.

Notably, SABIC's ethylene glycol production meets growing global demand in key sectors such as polyester fibers and polyethylene trifates.

Part of the production of ethylene glycol is used within the company as raw material for the manufacture of products such as polyester.

It is also used as an important industrial solvent and in the manufacture of polystyrene, plasticizers and unsaturated resins.

It can also be used as a softener to make adhesives materials more flexible, and it is an important component in the composition of brake fluid, pastes and dyes.



Trump Announces 30% Tariffs Against EU, Mexico to begin August 1

President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
TT
20

Trump Announces 30% Tariffs Against EU, Mexico to begin August 1

President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced he's levying tariffs of 30% against the European Union and Mexico.

Trump announced the tariffs on two of the United States' biggest trade partners in letters posted to his social media account.

In his letter to Mexico's leader, Trump acknowledged that the country has been helpful in stemming the flow of undocumented migrants and fentanyl into the United States. But he said the country has not done enough to stop North America from turning into a “Narco-Trafficking Playground.”

“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” Trump added, The AP news reported.

Trump in his letter to the European Union said that the US trade deficit was a national security threat.

“We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies, and Trade Barriers,” Trump wrote in the letter to the EU. “Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”

Trump is in the midst of an announcement blitz of new tariffs with allies and foes alike, a bedrock of his 2024 campaign that he said would set the foundation for reviving a US economy that he claims has been ripped off by other nations for decades.

With the reciprocal tariffs, Trump is effectively blowing up the rules governing world trade. For decades, the United States and most other countries abided by tariff rates set through a series of complex negotiations known as the Uruguay round. Countries could set their own tariffs – but under the “most favored nation’’ approach, they couldn’t charge one country more than they charged another.

With Saturday's letters, Trump has now issued tariff conditions on 24 countries and the 27-member European Union.

The European Union’s chief trade negotiator said earlier this week that a trade deal to avert higher tariffs on European goods imported to the US could be reached “even in the coming days.” Maroš Šefčovič told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday that the EU had been spared the increased tariffs contained in the letters Trump sent on Monday, and that an extension of talks would provide “additional space to reach a satisfactory conclusion.”

The bloc collectively sells more to the US than any other country. US goods imports from the EU topped $553 billion in 2022, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Trump on April 2 proposed a 20% tariff for EU goods and then threatened to raise that to 50% after negotiations did not move as fast as he would have liked. Sefcovic did not mention any tariff figures.

The higher tariffs as well as any EU retaliation had been suspended as the two sides negotiate. However the base rate of 10% for most trade partners as well as higher rates of 25% on autos and 50% on steel and aluminum had gone into effect.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director and president of the center-right American Action Forum, said the letters were evidence that serious trade talks were not taking place over the past three months. He stressed that nations were instead talking amongst themselves about how to minimize their own exposure to the US economy and Trump.

“They’re spending time talking to each other about what the future is going to look like, and we’re left out,” Holtz-Eakin said.

He added that Trump was using the letters to demand attention, but, “In the end, these are letters to other countries about taxes he’s going to levy on his citizens.”