The right chemistry
To support Saudi Aramco’s expansion into the petrochemicals business, our scientists are researching the production of ethylene and propylene from alternative liquid feedstocks. After conversion, the chemicals are suitable for integrated petrochemical processes. New cracking technologies are helping Saudi Aramco make new products in new ways and generate more value from the Kingdom’s natural resources as well as increasing the company’s intellectual capital.
Sadara
On July 25, 2011, we announced the formation with The Dow Chemical Company of a joint venture to build and operate a world-scale, fully integrated chemicals complex in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia. On October 8, 2011, we signed the Joint Venture Shareholders’ Agreement.
Comprised of 26 manufacturing units building on our project management and execution expertise, and utilizing many of Dow’s industry-leading technologies, the complex will be one of the world’s largest integrated chemical facilities, and the largest ever built in one single phase. The complex will possess flexible cracking capabilities and will produce over 3 million metric tons of high value-added chemical products and performance plastics, capitalizing on rapidly growing markets in energy, transportation, infrastructure and consumer products.
Sadara represents a key milestone in our ambitious downstream growth strategy. The enterprise will play a key role in the Kingdom’s industrial and economic diversification while contributing to the creation of thousands of high quality jobs. It will enable significant development in the country’s conversion industry, thereby supporting Saudi Arabia’s ambition to be a magnet for downstream manufacturing investments that add significant value to the Kingdom’s hydrocarbon resources.
Petro Rabigh
Completed in early 2009, Petro Rabigh is a $10 billion joint venture with Japan's Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd.
Located on the Red Sea coast, it’s one of the world’s largest integrated refinery and petrochemical complexes. We are currently studying a major expansion at this facility, the results of which will further enhance the value created from our petroleum molecules as well as generate many employment creating downstream investment opportunities.
Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP)
Scheduled to begin operations in 2013, Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP) in Jubail is a venture with France’s Total to build a full-conversion refinery that will process 400,000 bpd of Arabian Heavy crude oil.
It will produce high-quality fuels and petrochemicals and is expected to provide more than 1,100 jobs for Saudis.
Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (YASREF)
Through our partnership with Chinese Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), we’re building the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (YASREF) Limited, a joint venture that will be able to process up to 400,000 bpd of Arabian Heavy crude oil and produce refined products that meet domestic and international market demand.
In January 2012, Saudi Aramco and Sinopec agreed to form a joint venture related to the ongoing development of YASREF.
Fujian Refining and Petrochemical Company (FRPC)
Run by our subsidiary company, Saudi Aramco Sino Co. Ltd., FRPC is an equity venture refinery located in Fujian, China, with our partners ExxonMobil, Sinopec Corp. and the Fujian provincial government.
We tripled capacity at an existing refinery from 80,000 bpd to 240,000 bpd. We also added petrochemical capabilities, enabling the facility to produce high-quality refined products and petrochemicals.
In support of this project, we’ve increased our exports of crude oil to China to about 1 million bpd, or 25% of China's total crude oil imports.
Sinopec SenMei (Fujian) Petroleum Co. Ltd. (SSPC)
Run by our subsidiary company, Saudi Aramco Sino Co. Ltd., SSPC is a joint marketing venture with our partners ExxonMobil, Sinopec Corp. and the Fujian provincial government. SSPC has exclusive rights to market FRPC gasoline and diesel products in the Fujian Province and excess products outside the province.
Refining
Along with programs to ramp up hydrocarbon production, we’re also increasing investments to expand refining and petrochemical production capacities. One key driver in our refining strategy is to add domestic capacity for refining heavy oil, which will assume a larger proportion of our production as the years go by.
Our global refining capacity – including joint and equity ventures – is more than 4 million barrels per day (bpd). And that’s set to increase in the coming years as several new projects continue or come on-stream.
Motiva Enterprises LLC
This joint venture between our Houston based affiliate Saudi Refining Inc. and Shell is expanding the Port Arthur, Texas, refinery’s capacity to over 600,000 bpd, making it the largest refinery in the U.S.
Jazan
Development is under way on a 400,000 bpd semi-conversion refinery, which can process most crude oil grades, and a marine terminal at Jazan in the Kingdom’s southwest. It will provide a primary foundation industry for the Jazan Economic City development, which will encourage further development of the city and the region.
S-Oil
In South Korea, AOC equity venture S-Oil completed its Onsan Refinery Expansion Project in 2011, and established new markets in the Asia region.
SASREF, SAMREF and clean fuels
The Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Co. (SASREF), a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Shell, completed a clean-fuels project producing 100,000 bpd of ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel (10 ppm), while the Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery (SAMREF) in Yanbu’, a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and ExxonMobil, is continuing to implement its Clean Fuels Project.
2011 Highlights
- Yanbu' Refinery received the Industry Leader Award from the U.S. National Safety Council.
- 600 jobs created for Saudi nationals by joint venture Sadara Chemical Company before year-end 2011.
- Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Limited (SAMREF) began construction on the Clean Fuels Project, which is expected to reduce the sulfur levels by more than 98 percent in gasoline by 2013 and in diesel by 2016.
- 729 jobs and 350 apprenticeships created by the Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP) one year before operations begin.