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Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment and SATORP, the refining joint venture between Saudi Aramco and TotalEnergies, have signed an agreement to develop and expand downstream industries linked to the Amiral petrochemical complex in Jubail on the Kingdom’s east coast.
The agreement was signed on Thursday under the patronage of the Ministry of Energy.
The $11 billion Amiral project is owned by SATORP and integrated with its existing 460,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in Jubail.
The agreement covers production of chemicals and semi-finished products, improvement of production efficiency, reduction of transport and logistics costs and raising the utilisation of domestic natural resources, according to an Arabic language post by the Ministry of Energy.
The post said the agreement will contribute to diversification of non-oil revenues, support multiple national industrial strategies, create direct employment opportunities for Saudi citizens and strengthen local content.
The commercial start-up of Amiral, which is a key pillar of Aramco’s liquids to chemicals strategy, is planned for 2027.
$4bln in downstream investments
While the ministry’s post did not provide further detail, previous disclosures by TotalEnergies have said the Amiral project is expected to unlock around $4 billion of additional downstream investments in petrochemical and specialty chemical plants in the Jubail industrial area.
These facilities would use feedstock supplied by Amiral and support manufacturing of carbon fibres, lubricants, drilling fluids, detergents, food additives, automotive parts and tyres.
At least 7,000 direct and indirect local jobs are expected to be created by the Amiral complex and adjacent facilities.
Amiral timeline
The complex includes a mixed-feed cracker with ethylene production capacity of 1.65 million tonnes per year, two polyethylene production lines of 500,000 tonnes per year capacity each, a butadiene extraction unit, and other associated derivatives units. Its feedstock includes refinery off-gases and naphtha produced by SATORP, alongside ethane and light naphtha supplied by Saudi Aramco.
As part of the project’s decarbonisation measures, hydrogen co-produced by the steam cracker will replace methane currently used as fuel in furnaces at the SATORP refinery.
The ptroject reached Final Investment Decision (FID) in December 2022. In June 2023, SATORP awarded engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts to Hyundai Engineering & Construction for the mixed-feed cracker and utilities, Maire Tecnimont for two polyethylene units and derivative facilities, Sinopec Engineering Group Saudi Co. for tank farm and refinery integration works, and Gulf Consolidated Contractors Co for transfer pipelines.
Contracts were also awarded to Mohammed Ali Al-Suwailem Trading & Contracting Co. for industrial support facilities, Mofarreh Marzouq Al Harbi & Partners Co. for site preparation and Mobarak M. Al Salomi & Partners for Contracting Co. for temporary construction facilities.
SATORP is owned 62.5 percent by Aramco and 37.5 percent by TotalEnergies.
(Writing by Majda Muhsen; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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