Aramco, Sabic, Sinopec to expand petchem collaboration in Saudi Arabia/China
In line with their strategy to expand operations in rapidly growing east Asia, worlds’ largest energy company, Aramco along with its 70% owned subsidiary Sabic, are exploring collaboration opportunities with China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec)across refining and petrochemical projects.
“Aramco and Sinopec, one of the world’s largest energy and petrochemical corporations, have signed heads of agreement for a greenfield project in Gulei, Fujian Province, which plans to include a 320,000 barrels-per-day refinery and 1.5 million tonnee/year petrochemical cracker complex,” said a statement. The project is expected to commence operations by the end of 2025.
Additionally, Aramco, Sabic and Sinopec signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) recently, to study the economic and technical feasibility of developing a new petrochemical complex to be integrated with an existing refinery in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
Commenting on the development, Mohammed Y Al Qahtani, Aramco senior vice president of downstream, said, “These projects represent an opportunity to contribute to a modern, efficient and integrated downstream sector in both China and Saudi Arabia.”
He explained that these projects underpin Aramco’s long-term commitments to remain a reliable supplier of energy and chemicals to Asia’s largest economy.
The announcements support Aramco’s role as a reliable energy supplier to China as the company seeks to expand its liquids to chemicals capacity to up to 4 million barrels per day by 2030.
