By Innovation-sa on November 12, 2018 in News
Saudi Aramco and SABIC have announced Yanbu as the site for development of an integrated industrial complex to convert crude oil to chemicals (COTC), the first of its kind in the world.
The establishment of the complex will contribute to creating opportunities for setting up small and medium enterprises and factories and play a key role in national economic diversification as well as promote sustainable development, stated Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Medina.
The complex, backed by equal investments from both companies, will create an estimated 30,000 direct and indirect jobs and eventually contribute to a GDP growth of 1.5 percent.
The COTC complex is expected to start operations in 2025 and will process 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day to produce approximately 9 million tonnes of chemicals and base oils annually.
The project will support the creation of a world-leading downstream sector in Saudi Arabia focussing on four key drivers – maximizing value from the Kingdom’s crude oil production via integration across the hydrocarbon chain, enabling the creation of conversion industries to produce semi-finished and finished goods to help diversify the economy, developing advanced technologies and innovation, and enabling sustainable development in alignment with the Kingdom’s National Transformation Program.
Asharq Al-Awsat – 6 November 2018