Business & Finance Club - Jeddah : South Korea's STX Heavy Industries said Thursday it has signed a preliminary 1.1 billion dollar deal to build chemical plants in western Saudi Arabia.

The company said in a statement it signed the agreement with the Al Rajhi Group to build two chemical plants at the Yanbu industrial complex by 2014.

One plant will produce an annual 6,000 tons of polysilicon, a major component of solar cells. The other will make 100,000 tons of linear alkyl benzene used for producing detergent.

In September last year the company won a 200-million-dollar deal to build a steel plant for Saudi's South Steel Company, its first deal in the Middle Eastern country.

It also in February secured an initial three billion dollar deal to build a power plant and a steel-making plant for the Iraqi government.