Page 10 - DMEA Week 16 2022

DMEA PETROCHEMICALS DMEA

Saudi petchem firms

announce mixed results

MIDDLE EAST SEVERAL Saudi Arabian petrochemical firms SIIG’s board announced a cash dividend of
provided first quarter performance updates this SAR0.75 ($0.2) per share for the first half of 2022,
week, with the results something of a mixed bag. representing a total dividend of SAR566mn
Sipchem posted a 162% increase in net ($151mn) or 7.5% of its capital.
profit for the first quarter of the year, buoyed by
reduced finance costs and increased profits from SATORP deal
JVs. Meanwhile, US firm KBR announced that it had
The news contrasts with the fortunes of been awarded a seven-year contract for mainte-
Advanced Petrochemical, which last week said nance at a key facility in the Saudi petrochemical
its profits had fallen by 4% during the period hub of Jubail in the oil-rich Eastern Province.
on the back of higher costs for raw materials The company said that it had won a contract
with propane and outsourced propylene prices to provide general maintenance services at the
rising by 40% and 27%, respectively. The com- integrated Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Pet-
pany added that its share of profits from SK rochemical Co. (SATORP) plant. The 440,000
Advanced in which it owns a 30% stake through barrel per day (bpd) facility was commissioned
its Advanced Global Investment Co. (AGIC) in 2014.
subsidiary. Advanced chairman Khalifa Al Mul- The contract includes the provision of pre-
hem told Al Arabiya that he anticipates propane ventive, predictive, corrective and shutdown
and propylene prices to fall during the second maintenance services at the refinery. “By inte-
half of the year, despite the recent uptick. grating lessons learned from a decade-long
Elsewhere, the Saudi Industrial Invest- partnership, KBR aims to achieve top quartile
ment Group (SIIG) has received approval to plant performance while optimising costs,” it
acquire all shares of the National Petrochem- said. The contract is extendable by an additional
ical Co. (Petrochem), with the latter having three years.
now been suspended from trading on the Saudi Aramco and Total own stakes of 62.5% and
stock exchange. Plans for the merger were first 37.5% respectively in both SATORP and the
announced in September with SIIG proposing adjacent 1.5mn tonne per year (tpy) mixed-feed
to award Petrochem shareholders 1.27 shares in cracker project Amiral, which is due to begin
the merged company for every share. operations in 2025.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 16 21•April•2022