OREANDA-NEWS. Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) have signed heads of agreement to conduct a feasibility study on the development of a fully integrated crude oil-to-chemicals complex to be located in Saudi Arabia. The heads of agreement contains key principles of cooperation that will form the basis for the companies to establish a joint venture, if the joint study reaches a positive conclusion.

Derived from improved refining technology, the crude oil-to-chemicals process will involve innovative configurations with proven conversion technologies. This will create a fully integrated petrochemical complex which maximizes chemical yield, transforms and recycles by-products, drives efficiencies of scale and resource optimization and diversifies the petrochemical feedstock mix in the Kingdom.

Saudi Aramco president and CEO, Amin H. Nasser said: “Our agreement with SABIC reflects our vision to build on Saudi Arabia’s global leadership in crude oil production and commodities export by substantially increasing the production of oil-based petrochemicals and further optimizing value across the entire hydrocarbons chain. This agreement will help spur a new era of industrial diversification, job creation and technology development in Saudi Arabia, particularly through downstream conversion of specialty chemicals by small and medium sized enterprises.”

Consistent with the  Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 goals, this project will provide new opportunities toward creating a  world leading downstream sector in Saudi Arabia, built on four key drivers: maximizing value from the Kingdom’s crude oil production via vertical and horizontal integration across the hydrocarbon chain; enabling the creation of conversion industries that produce semi-finished and finished goods to help diversify the economy; developing advanced technologies and innovation; and, enabling the Kingdom’s sustainable development in alignment with the Kingdom’s National Transformation Program.