AL-KHOBAR – Japan's JGC Corp. signed a deal to expand an ethane cracker for a petrochemicals complex owned by Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, an industry source said. A JGC spokesman declined to comment on the deal for the unit, known as RP1. The contract is valued in the range of $100 million to $200 million, said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter was not yet public. Aramco and Sumitomo have taken longer than expected to pick contractors for the Rabigh II petrochemical expansion project, which is expected to cost around $7 billion. JGC's deal is the latest to be awarded. South Korea's GS Engineering and Construction and Daelim Industrial, Italy's Saipem and Britain's Petrofac have all signed contracts to build the second phase of the complex in Rabigh. In addition to expanding the ethane cracker, a new aromatics complex will be built using around 3 million metric tons (3.3 million tons) per year of naphtha to make higher value petrochemicals for the Rabigh II mega complex. – Reuters
