A second polypropylene plant at Jubail-based Ibn Zahr will start production by the end of this year, a company official said recently.

The new plant, which cost SR1.5 billion ($400 million), will have a capacity of 320,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of polypropylene and will raise Ibn Zahr's annual output to 640,000 tpy.

Meanwhile, Ibn Zahr has been running its 640,000 polypropylene plant at 70 to 80 per cent of capacity, though the company is planning to raise the operating rate to full capacity next month.

Ibn Zahr is 70 per cent- owned by Sabic, with Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), Italy's Ecofuel (part of Italian energy group Eni) and Finland's Neste Oy each holding 10 per cent.