Riyadh – Mubasher: State-run Saudi Aramco on Thursday announced plans to acquire a stake in a refinery-petrochemical project in eastern China, senior vice president of downstream, Abdulaziz al-Judaimi, said.

The world's largest oil producer and Zhejiang province will sign the acquisition agreement later on Thursday, Al-Judaimi told Reuters.

The deal entails plans to invest in a new refinery and co-operate in crude oil supply, storage and trading, according to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two parties.
 
In September, Aramco inked a long-term deal with the project’s operator Zhejiang Rongsheng to supply crude oil.

The Saudi oil giant “had not yet finalised the size of its stake in the project and still needed to complete due diligence,” al-Judaimi told the news agency.

Saudi Aramco forecasts to supply 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Saudi crude to the refinery in Zhoushan when it comes online, while the first crude carrier is set to arrive in December or January, depending on when the project starts, he added.

Zhejiang Petrochemical, in which Rongsheng Holding Group owns a 51% stake, stated previously that it was planning to operate its refining project by the end of this year.