Saudi Arabia has started construction of its Hawiyah Natural Gas Liquids project which will boost production of ethane and NGLs, Saudi Aramco said.

"These facilities are vital for supporting the energy flow, both to the kingdom and the world," the Aramco statement quoted Ali Al Ajmi, vice president of project management, as saying.
The project will provide petrochemical feedstock to the industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu in the kingdom. The Hawiyah NGL recovery programme will produce 310,000 barrels of ethane and NGL products by 2008, through the Hawiyah plant and an expansion of the Juaymah gas fractionation plant near Ras Tanura.