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ABIC, Asahi Kasei Chemicals and Mitsubishi have set up Saudi Japanese Acrylonitrile (SHROUQ) to establish a plant with a capacity for 200,000 tonnes/year of acrylonitrile (AN) and 40,000 tonnes/year of sodium cyanide (NaCN) in Saudi Arabia.

The plant will be located at one of the SABIC's affiliates' sites in Jubail Industrial City. AN and NaCN are important chemicals for the downstream diversification into acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), carbon/acrylic fibre, acrylamide and others, which serve various industries such as automotive, construction, water treatment, oil recovery, personal care, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, electronics, gold mining and many others. NaCN will support the local mining industry in Saudi Arabia.

Asahi Kasei has identified AN as a focus for global expansion through strategic investment of management resources with the aim of gaining a leading position in the AN market. Asahi also states that solid demand growth for AN is forecasted to continue worldwide and that Asahi Kasei Chemicals had been considering the construction of a new AN plant to meet rising demand in the Middle East and North Africa. Asahi Kasei commented that the new capacity, joined with their other production in Japan and South Korea, will make it the largest producer of AN in the world at some 1.4 million tonnes/year upon completion of the new plant in Saudi Arabia.

The project will also focus carrying out all necessary details for the JV incorporation and project evaluation, implementation and execution activities with final decision on capital expenditure in 2012.