Eastern Petrochemical Company (SHARQ) has entered into loan agreements with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Local and International Banks, amounting to SR 9.11 billion (US$ 2.43 billion), for the construction of its Third Expansion Project in Al-Jubail Industrial City. The loan agreements were signed by and between; Dr. Abdulaziz S. Al-Jarbou, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SHARQ, and Nobuyuki Higashi, Chief Representative of Representative Office in Dubai representing JBIC, Mansour Al-Maiman, Secretary-General, representing PIF and Mr. Akira Naito, Managing Executive Officer of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. representative of the Local and International Commercial Banks. The production of the new plants is expected to go on stream during second half of 2008, with an annual capacity of 1,300 KTPA of Ethylene, 700 KTPA of Ethylene Glycol, 400 KTPA of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and 400 KTPA of Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE). With the addition of new capacity, SHARQ's overall annual capacity is expected to exceed 4,900 KTPA, more than ten times of the initial annual capacity at the very beginning, which was 430 KTPA, besides becoming the world's largest producer of Ethylene Glycol at one site, according to a press release of SABIC issued yesterday. SHARQ was founded on May 23 1981 as a joint venture, equally owned by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and SPDC LTD (a consortium of Japanese companies led by Mitsubishi Group and supported by Japanese Government).
