OREANDA-NEWS. August 02, 2011. Chinese government has approved state-run Sinopec Group's plan to build a 400,000 barrel-per-day Yanbu refinery in Saudi Arabia, three months after Sinopec and state-run Saudi Aramco struck an initial pact to build the USD 10 billion plant in the world's top oil exporting country.

The National Development & Reform Commission, the country's economic planner, announced the approval in a brief note published on its website (www.ndrc.gov.cn).

China, the world's No.2 oil consumer, is surpassing the United States as Riyadh's largest crude oil buyer with volumes set to hit an average of 1 million bpd this year, or about one-fifth of China's crude imports.

Aramco said in March it would hold a 62.5-percent stake in the Red Sea Refining Co formed to build the Yanbu refinery, while Sinopec would own the remainder.

Sinopec Group is parent of Sinopec Corp, Asia's largest refiner.

This would be Sinopec's first refining venture outside China, putting it in a race against rival PetroChina , which has clinched a string of refinery deals beyond Chinese borders.

China raised it crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia by 19 percent in the first half of the year at 24.17 million tonnes, or about 975,000 bpd, Chinese customs data showed.