RIYADH  - Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) said on Thursday that it and Saudi Aramco, its partner in a crude oil-to-chemicals project, have awarded a contract to U.S. engineering company KBR, for the project's management and front-end engineering and design.

In November, SABIC, the world's fourth-biggest petrochemicals company, and state-run Aramco, the world's largest oil firm, signed a deal to build a chemicals complex to convert 45 percent of crude oil to chemicals directly.

The multi-billion-dollar project, which the partners said would be the largest crude-to-chemicals facility in the world and the first in Saudi Arabia, are part of the Saudi government's effort to diversify the economy beyond exporting crude oil.

 

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal. Editing by Jane Merriman) ((rania.elgamal@thomsonreuters.com; +971 562 160 434; Reuters Messaging: rania.elgamal.reuters.com@reuters.net ; Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rania_ElGamal))