Saudi Aramco, Sinopec and the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (Yasref) have signed a framework agreement for a major petrochemicals expansion project at Yasref. The project is a key plank of Aramco’s strategy to bring its liquids-to-chemicals conversion capacity to 4mn b/d by 2030, and follows an MoU in December 2022 (MEES, 23 December 2022).
In a joint 9 April statement, the trio announced the signing of a Venture Framework Agreement (VFA) “intended to pave the way for a major petrochemical expansion” at the Yasref refinery, located at Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. The Yasref refinery (Aramco 62.5%, Sinopec 37.5%) started commercial operations with 400,000 b/d capacity in 2015, and was subsequently expanded to 430,000 b/d in 2020. (CONTINUED - 815 WORDS)
