Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) announced, on 9 March, the groundbreaking of the $7 billion Shaheen petrochemical project in South Korea’s Ulsan.

South Korean President Yoon and Amin Nasser, the President and CEO of the Saudi company, attended the groundbreaking ceremony, besides ministers and senior officials from both countries.

Aramco announced the Shaheen project in November 2022 which is being developed by Aramco affiliate S-OIL and is considered a major part of the listed company’s regional crude-to-chemicals strategy, according to a press release.

Nasser said: “Shaheen is among Aramco’s biggest international downstream investments, representing a significant and sizeable step forward in our liquids-to-chemicals expansion and another major milestone in further strengthening our presence in Korea.”

The Shaheen scheme is by far Aramco’s biggest investment in Korea and is projected to be one of the largest integrated steam crackers across the globe.

In addition, the development is the first major commercial deployment of Aramco’s thermal crude to chemicals technology which was developed in collaboration with Lummus Technology.