Basell has licensed its Hostalen HDPE technology to Sabic for use in two new plants, one in Saudi Arabia and the other in Europe. The Saudi unit of 400,000tpa capacity is to be built at the Yanbu complex on the Red Sea for scheduled start up in 2007.

The second is due for start up in 2008 at an as yet unidentified European site. The Saudi group is known to be planning expansions at the Geleen and Gelsenkirchen sites acquired through its take over of DSM Petrochemicals. Meanwhile, Sabic EuroPetrochemicals has been renamed Sabic Europe as of today. Frans Noteborn, chairman of Sabic Europe’s managing board, said: “Besides the 4 million tonnes we produce and sell in Europe, we now import and sell another 2 million tonnes of products from Sabic’s plants in Saudi Arabia. “This means that our portfolio has come to comprise of a good deal more than petrochemicals alone. So the term petrochemicals no longer adequately expresses what we do.”