Saudi Aramco to pump $7 bln into greatest petchem funding in South Korea

Saudi Aramco plans a $7-billion funding at a South Korean affiliate’s manufacturing unit within the port metropolis of Ulsan to end up extra high-value petrochemical merchandise, the corporate mentioned on Thursday.

The challenge, named Shaheen, is the Saudi agency’s greatest funding within the Asian nation to develop one of many world’s largest refinery-integrated petrochemical steam crackers, Aramco mentioned in a press release.

Saudi Aramco owns greater than 63% of South Korean refiner S-Oil Corp.

Development of the brand new plant will start in 2023 and be accomplished by 2026. It’s going to have manufacturing capability of as much as 3.2 million tonnes a 12 months, together with a facility to provide high-value polymers, Aramco mentioned.

The steam cracker is predicted to course of by-products from crude processing, together with naphtha and off-gas, to make ethylene, and can also be anticipated to provide propylene, butadiene and different fundamental chemical substances.

On completion of the challenge, S-Oil’s chemical yield, by quantity, might nearly double to 25%, Aramco mentioned.

International petrochemical demand development is “anticipated to speed up, pushed partly by rising consumption from Asia’s rising economies,” Chief Govt Amin Nasser mentioned within the assertion.

The challenge is properly positioned to fulfill rising demand from Asia’s industries, he added.

The information got here together with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s go to to South Korea on Thursday.

($1=1,332.8900 received)