€200m polyethylene plant

’s SABIC Polyolefine, a subsidiary of

’s

, has commissioned

to build a new 250,000 tonne-per-year high-density polyethylene plant (HDPE).

Uhde's scope of supply and service includes the engineering, project management, supply of all material and equipment, construction work and assisting the customer's personnel in commissioning activities. Within the framework of SABIC's total investment of approximately €200m the Uhde contract accounts for about €150 million.

The new polyethylene plant will be built at SABIC's Gelsenkirchen site as part of an integrated refinery and petrochemical plant complex. It will produce bimodal HDPE which can be processed to pipes, film, and large and small blow mouldings. Commissioning of the plant is scheduled for late 2008.

‘Over the last five years alone Uhde has been involved in projects with a cumulative annual capacity of more than 3m tonnes per year of polyethylene. We are particularly pleased to have succeeded in securing this large-scale HDPE project in the Ruhr district - virtually on our doorstep", said Helmut Knauthe, Uhde Executive Board member responsible for polymer plants.