Huntsman Announces Progress on Saudi Ethyleneamines Plant

Huntsman Corporation today announced that its ethyleneamines joint venture plant currently under construction in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, is proceeding on schedule and is expected to meet the mechanical completion target of November 2009.

The joint venture, known as Arabian Amines Company, was created by Huntsman and the Al-Zamil Group to construct a world-scale ethyleneamines plant using Huntsman’s proprietary technology.

The parties expect the plant to be fully commissioned and in production in the first quarter of next year. The plant will have the capacity to produce approximately 30,000 MT/yr of ethyleneamines, including ethylenediamine (EDA), diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylenetetramine (TETA) and higher molecular versions. The plant was also designed to enable the economical addition of a second world-scale train within the next several years, which would double the plant’s ethyleneamines capacity.

"Once completed, the addition of this plant to our current production capacity will make Huntsman the world’s largest ethyleneamines producer. Products from this facility will be sold globally and we believe our technology along with the plant’s location in Jubail will bring incomparable global production economics as we meet the ever-growing market demand for these products over the next several years," said Stu Monteith, Vice President of Performance Specialties at Huntsman.

Ethyleneamines are specialty chemicals that serve as end products in the production of the growing wind blade market, agricultural applications, laundry detergents, and lube oil additives for gasoline and diesel engines.