Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco and China’s Petroleum and Chemical Corporation Sinopec signed an initial agreement to build a refinery and a petrochemicals plant in China and Saudi Arabia.
In a joint statement released on Sunday, Aramco and Sinopec, along with and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. SABIC said the project will include a 320,000 barrels-per-day refinery and 1.5 million tons-per-year petrochemical cracker complex in China.
It is expected to commence operations by the end of 2025, according to the statement.
The deal came after Aramco and Snopec signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on December 15 to investigate the economic and technical viability of creating a new petrochemical complex that would be integrated with an existing refinery in Saudi Arabia.
‘These projects represent an opportunity to contribute to a modern, efficient and integrated downstream sector in both China and Saudi Arabia,’ Aramco’s Senior Vice President of Downstream Mohammed Al Qahtani was quoted as saying in the statement.
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, according to the statement.
