Saudi Aramco and SABIC are exploring collaboration with Sinopec across refining and petrochemical industries with plans of building massive projects in China and Saudi Arabia.
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 tons-per-year petrochemical cracker complex. It is expected to commence operations by the end of 2025.
Also, Aramco, SABIC and Sinopec signed an agreement on December 15, to study the economic and technical feasibility of developing a new petrochemical complex to be integrated with an existing refinery in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
The announcements strengthen 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.
Last month, Sinopec secured one of the biggest-ever LNG deals, signing a 27-year agreement to purchase 4 million tonnes a year of the fuel from QatarEnergy.
The deal marked the “longest gas supply agreement in the history of the LNG industry”, Saad Al-Kaabi, QatarEnergy’s CEO and the Gulf state’s energy minister noted.
