SAMSUNG Engineering has been selected to provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for Saudi Organometallic Chemicals Company’s (SOCC) aluminium alkyls manufacturing facility in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

SOCC is a joint venture equally owned by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) affiliate Speciality Chem (Saudi Specialty Chemical Company) and Albemarle Netherlands, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US-headquartered Albemarle Corporation.

“SOCC is pleased with the selection of Samsung,” said Al Saurage, SOCC executive general manager. “Given Samsung’s reputation, SOCC is assured of a quality design and construction effort for this facility that will supply a strategic product supporting the polyolefin industry of the region.”

Samsung will immediately begin the detailed engineering in Seoul, Korea. The manufacturing facility will be constructed in Jubail Industrial City at the Speciality Chem site, with a mechanical completion date projected for the third quarter of 2012.

The SOCC facility will initially manufacture 6,000 tonnes a year of tri ethyl aluminium, the key co-catalyst used in polyolefin production.

This product is currently supplied to the region from Albemarle’s facilities in Europe, Asia, and North America and will be supplied from the SOCC plant to regional customers upon plant start-up.