Saudi Aramco, with the belated release of its 2017 Annual Review describes itself as “the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals company,” which besides progressing “oil and gas megaprojects in the upstream” (MEES, 24 August) has continued to enhance its global downstream network.
Aramco CEO Amin Nasser says “in the downstream sector… our primary objective is to extract maximum value along the hydrocarbon chain and elevate our downstream business to the level of leadership we enjoy in upstream.” For 2017, the key move in this direction came with start-up of the multi-unit Sadara petchems JV with US firm Dow Chemical. This “takes Saudi Arabia’s chemicals industry to the next era. The facility achieved reliable operations at full design feed capacity of 85mn cfd of ethane and 53,000 b/d of naphtha,” the company says. (CONTINUED - 1644 WORDS)
