While on a visit to Paris the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia inked a more than £6billion deal between Saudi Aramco and Total to build a giant petrochemical complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
The deal takes the form of a memorandum of understanding and sees Saudi Aramco and Total agree to build near their existing a joint venture, the SATORP refinery.
The Saudi outfit have a 62.5% stake in the existing refinery whereas French firm Total own the remaining 37.5%.
Located next to the SATORP refinery in the same industrial area, Total say the complex will comprise a “world-size mixed-feed steam cracker (50% ethane and refinery off-gas)”.
It will also boast a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year of ethylene and related high-added-value petrochemical units.
Total say the total invested in the deal will be £6.3billion and will create 8,000 jobs for the region.
Amin H. Nasser, president and chief executive officer of Saudi Aramco, said: “The agreement deepens the exemplary relationship enjoyed by our two companies over many decades. It is one that has evolved from a standard buyer-seller arrangement to one imbued with common interests to further develop and diversify our businesses.
“Our joint venture SATORP is a remarkably successful model of industry partnership and we are keen to build on this success to further underpin Saudi Aramco’s strategy to expand its capacity in the chemicals sector by 2030.”
Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of Total, added: “This project illustrates our strategy of maximizing the integration of our large refining and petrochemical platforms and of expanding our petrochemical operations from low-cost feedstock, to take advantage of the fast growing Asian polymer market.
“Furthermore, this project will enable us to strengthen our ties with Saudi Aramco, with whom we successfully operate our biggest and most efficient refinery in the world. Finally, it will contribute to the Vision 2030 of the Kingdom by creating 8,000 jobs and bringing in new high-added-value technologies.”