Jacobs Engineering Group has been awarded a contract to provide engineering and project management services for the construction of a $300m soda ash and calcium chloride production facility in Saudi Arabia.
The contract for the facility was awarded by IDEA Soda Ash and Calcium Chloride Company (ISACC) and will be built in Jubail’s Second Industrial City.
The commissioning production run is scheduled to start by end of 2014 and commercial operations are expected to follow in the first quarter of 2015.
Officials did not disclose the contract value, but added in a statement that the facility is the first of its kind in the kingdom and the GCC to produce soda ash (sodium carbonate) and calcium chloride.
These products, currently being imported, are used in oil and gas drilling operations, as well as in the manufacture of glass and detergents.
Following award of the engineering, procurement and construction contract, Jacobs said it is also providing the project management services up to the plant start-up.
Abdulaziz A-Muaiyyad, ISACC managing director & CEO, said: “The project will make a significant contribution to the development of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy with all basic materials secured from mines within Saudi Arabia.”
Jacobs Group vice president, Bob Irvin, added: “It (the project) is the first of its kind in the kingdom and we fully recognize the importance of increasing the participation of the chemical industries sector in the national economy.”
Work is currently in progress to secure all the other necessary utilities to run the project.
ISACC said it is setting up a new entity — Jubail Inorganic Chemicals Industries Company — to run the new facility.
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