State petroleum firm Aramco and state led petchems firm Sabic have confirmed that Yanbu on the Saudi Red Sea coast will be the location of their planned $20bn crude oil to chemicals (COTC) project. While much of Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical capacity has been built at Jubail on the Gulf coast, the partners had Yanbu in mind when they signed an MoU for joint development of the project, although they were considering other options, with proximity to market a key factor (MEES, 1 December 2017).
While Yanbu is further away from the chief Asian chemicals market, the recent expansion of Red Sea port capacity through the rehabilitation of Mu’ajjiz terminal offers access to Europe and the US and also likely more options for both liquids and containerized chemicals export (MEES, 19 October). (CONTINUED - 179 WORDS)