Aramco Board Sanctions $14bn Of Downstream Integration

17 Aug 2018 Issue: 61 / 33 By: David Knott

Aramco has set out how it intends to integrate a petchems plant with the 440,000 b/d Satorp refinery, which started up in 2013. Even bigger petchems investments are planned.

The board of directors of state petroleum giant Saudi Aramco this week approved projects worth a combined $14bn for the integration of petrochemicals plants with two existing refineries: the 440,000 b/d Satorp refinery at Jubail on the Saudi Gulf coast – a JV with France’s Total – and the Port Arthur refinery in Texas, which Aramco owns outright after Shell exited the Motiva joint venture last year.

The latest issue of Aramco’s weekly Arabian Sun magazine says the board has approved the Satorp expansion joint development agreement and front end engineering design (FEED) funding request as well as a funding request for chemicals capacity expansion at Port Arthur. As Aramco targets increased revenues from its resources, the report quotes Aramco technical services vice-president Ahmad al-Saadi as saying the integration projects are “part of our continued transformation.” (CONTINUED - 769 WORDS)