Saudi Aramco to acquire stake in Chinese refinery

Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco has signed an agreement with a provincial government in China to acquire a stake in the new refinery project of Zhejiang Petrochemicals, which is 51% owned by textile firm Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group.

The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the second International Petroleum and Natural Gas Enterprises Conference (IPEC) held in the Chinese province of Zhejiang Province.

Under the agreement, Saudi Aramco intends to invest in the new refinery and provide support to a wide range of processes in the industrial chain of oil products. The new 400,000- bpd (barrels per day) petrochemical refinery and associated petrochemical facilities are expected to commence operations in eastern China by the end of this year.

Once operations begin at the Zhejiang refinery, Saudi Aramco expects to deliver 170,000-bpd of crude oil to the project, according to Mr. Abdulaziz Al Judaimi, Saudi Aramco’s Senior VP (Downstream). The first supply set to arrive in December 2018 or January 2019.

Saudi Aramco, he stated, is working to achieve a better balance between its upstream and growing downstream businesses. The company’s downstream strategy seeks to enhance the value of the hydrocarbon resource base by targeting increased horizontal and vertical integration across the hydrocarbon value chain, he added. “Major refining, marketing and petrochemicals joint ventures are being created in such leading consuming nations as China and India, besides Malaysia, in addition to our existing assets in the US, South Korea, and Japan,” he observed.