Amin H. Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; www.saudiaramco.com) and Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of Total S.A. (Paris, France; www.total.com), signed today in Dhahran the joint development agreement for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of a giant petrochemical complex in Jubail, on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast.
Announced in April 2018, the world-class complex will be located next to the Satorp refinery, operated by Saudi Aramco (62.5%) and Total (37.5%), in order to fully exploit operational synergies. It will comprise a mixed-feed cracker (50% ethane and refinery off-gases) – the first in the Gulf region to be integrated with a refinery – with a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year of ethylene and related high-added-value petrochemical units. The project represents an investment of around $5 billion and is scheduled to start-up in 2024.
The project will provide feedstock to other petrochemical and specialty chemical plants located in the Jubail industrial area and beyond, representing an additional $4 billion investment by third party investors benefitting to the Saudi economy.
The overall complex will represent an investment of approximately $9 billion and is expected to create 8,000 local direct and indirect jobs.
Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser said: “Satorp’s second-phase expansion represents a quantum leap in Saudi Aramco’s downstream strategy to maximize our hydrocarbon resources and help position the Kingdom as a chemicals manufacturing hub, thus supporting economic diversification. Today’s signing will deliver on multiple levels, from high-value fuels and petrochemical products for consumers on three continents to meaningful job creation and local content development. We’re pleased to celebrate with Total this latest milestone in the Satorp journey.”