Mubasher TV
Contact Us Advertising   العربية

Saudi Aramco unveils $7bn petrochemical project in South Korea

Saudi Aramco unveils $7bn petrochemical project in South Korea
Photo Archive
SAUDI ARAMCO
2222
-1.60% 30.75 -0.50

Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) plans to invest $7 billion in South Korea to set up one of the world’s largest refinery-integrated petrochemical steam crackers through the Korean affiliate S-OIL.

The Shaheen project comes in line with the Saudi company’s objective to maximise the crude to the chemicals value chain, according to a press release.

The facility aims to convert crude oil into petrochemical feedstock, becoming the first commercialisation of Aramco and Lummus Technology’s TC2C thermal crude to chemicals technology. It will also reinforce chemical yield and lower operating costs.

The project follows an earlier $4 billion investment into the first phase of the petrochemical expansion, which was completed in 2018.

Located in Ulsan, the new plant will have an annual production capacity of up to 3.20 million tonnes of petrochemicals, in addition to having a facility to generate high-value polymers. The scheme is projected to begin in 2023 and it will be completed by 2026.

Once fully implementing the project, the volume base of S-OIL’s chemical yield could almost double to 25%, which aligns with Aramco’s strategy to increase its liquids to chemicals capacity to up to 4 million barrels per day (bpd).

It is worth noting that Aramco holds over 63% of S-OIL’s shares through its fully-owned subsidiary Aramco Overseas Company B.V.

Amin Nasser, President and CEO of Aramco, said: “By further integrating refining and chemical processes through the first commercialization of Aramco’s thermal crude to chemicals technology, we aim to create a more efficient, competitive, and sustainable platform for growth while paving the way for further downstream expansion.”

Mohammed Al Qahtani, Senior Vice President of Downstream at Aramco, noted: “Shaheen aspires to be a gamechanger not only for S-OIL in South Korea but also for our global chemicals business, allowing us to process a greater range of feedstocks in a more efficient and less energy-intensive way.”

Al Qahtani added: “The project represents the first large-scale deployment of Aramco’s thermal crude to chemicals technology and shows how, through better design, we can contribute to the transition to more efficient and more sustainable production processes.”

In the first nine months (9M) of 2022, Aramco recorded net profits after Zakat and tax worth SAR 488.78 billion, higher by 67.97% year-on-year (YoY) than SAR 291 billion.