National Industrialisation Company or Tasnee is in the process of making major headway in the chemicals and plastics field with two projects in the final stages of completion.

Its Saudi Polyolefins Company (SPC) affiliate in Jubail, which is undergoing a capacity expansion to 720,000 tonnes per year of polypropylene from the current level of 450,000 tonnes, is set for completion by the end of this year. The cost of the project is $300 million.
Saudi Polyolefins is a joint venture between principal partners Tasnee  and Basell Middle East with Tasnee holding 75 per cent of the shareholding and Basell 23 per cent.
Another major project which will be completed by the beginning of November 2008 is the affiliate Saudi Ethylene and Polyethylene Company (SEPC) in Jubail whose capacity is a million tonnes annually of ethylene, 285,000 tonnes of propylene, 400,000 tonnes of high density polyethylene and 400,000 tonnes of low density polyethylene. Tasnee is executing the project in association with main local partner Sahara Petrochemical Company. The local participation is to the tune of 75 per cent of shares while foreign partner Basell’s stake is 25 per cent.
The cracker side of the project was commissioned several weeks before the due date of completion of the entire plant. Some of the plant’s outcome will be used as feedstock for the expanded SPC facilities.
The cost of the project is $2.5 billion.
Tasnee, which is the holding company for a varied group of firms, registered sales of SR7.14 billion ($1.90 billion) and net profits of SR661 billion in 2007 against sales and net profits of SR3.2 billion and SR693 billion respectively in 2006.
Tasnee plans a SR2 billion rights issue this year.
One of its affiliates, Jeddah-based National Titanium Dioxide Company or Cristal, is the second largest producer of titanium dioxide in the world. That status was reached when during 2007 Cristal acquired Lyondell’s titanium dioxide company. The Lyondell facilities include eight plants in the US, France, Britain, Brazil and Australia with a total production capacity of 700,000 tonnes annually. Cristal’s own production in Yanbu is set to rise to 180,000 tonnes per year from the current level of 127,000 tonnes.
Titanium dioxide is used in paints, inks, plastic, rubber, paper, textiles, ceramic tiles, cosmetics and pharmaceutical preparations.
In another development Tasnee announced recently its Cristal unit had won US regulatory approval for a takeover of International Titanium Powder (ITP) for $110 million.
International Titanium Powder, founded in 1997, produces titanium and titanium alloys.
Cristal said in May it had launched a $289 million takeover bid for Australian mineral sands producer Bemax Resources Ltd.
Cristal’s principal partners are Tasnee (66 per cent), Gulf Investment Corporation (33 per cent) and Dr Talal bin Ali Al Sha’er (1 per cent).
Rowad National Plastic Company, another Tasnee affiliate, will begin commercial production of its first bi-axially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) line in March 2009. The 30,000 tonnes per year line will be augmented by another line of similar capacity with production set for early 2010.
Rowad and its subsidiaries are fully owned by Tasnee. The Rowad companies also make geomembrane rolls, polycarbonate sheets, plastic pails, polypropylene automotive batteries and acrylic and polystyrene sheets, among other products.