Saudi Aramco plans oil-to-chemicals projects

Two affiliates of the Saudi Arabian oil giant Saudi Aramco are planning crude oil-to-chemicals projects. The South Korean refiner and petrochemical maker S-Oil, majority owned by Aramco, will spend $7 billion on a complex in Ulsan, South Korea. It will use Aramco’s oil-to-chemicals technology and have the capacity to make 3.2 million metric tons per year of petrochemicals, plus polymer derivatives. Work is expected to be completed in 2026. The Saudi chemical maker Sabic, also majority owned by Aramco, says it will study building an oil-to-chemicals complex in Ras Al-Khair, Saudi Arabia.