Aramco and French oil major TotalEnergies have taken the final investment decision for the construction of Amiral complex, a world-scale petrochemical facility in Jubail, Saudi Arabia..
The project represents an investment of around $11 billion, of which $4 billion will be funded through equity by Aramco (62.5%) and TotalEnergies (37.5%), the companies announced in a join press release. Its construction is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of 2023 with commercial operation targeted to start in 2027.
The facility will be owned, operated, and integrated with the SATORP refinery located in Jubail on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast. The investment decision is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.
The petrochemical facility will enable SATORP to convert internally produced refinery off-gases and naphtha, as well as ethane and natural gasoline supplied by Aramco, into higher value chemicals, helping to advance Aramco’s liquids to chemicals strategy.
The complex will comprise of a mixed feed cracker capable of producing 1.65 million tons per annum of ethylene, the first in the region to be integrated with a refinery. It will also include two state-of-the-art polyethylene units using Advanced Dual Loop technology, a butadiene extraction unit, and other associated derivatives units.
The megaproject will also provide feedstock to other petrochemical and specialty chemical plants, located in the Jubail industrial area, which will be built, owned and operated by globally renowned downstream investors, entailing an estimated additional $4 billion of investments.
“With this collaboration we aim to expand the value chain by producing advanced chemicals more efficiently than ever before, accelerating industrial progress in the Kingdom,” Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser said in a statement.