MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco plans to set up a new chemicals subsidiary, the company said in its official magazine, The Arabian Sun, on Wednesday, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.
"The Board approved the creation of a new subsidiary to conduct the company's chemicals business," Aramco said. It did not give further details in the weekly in-house publication.
Aramco's board met last week in Shanghai to discuss the company's plans and appointed a new downstream head as well as several vice presidents in other key positions.
Abdulaziz al-Judaimi was named as senior vice president for downstream operations.
Downstream, covering refining and chemicals, is an important area for the company as it diversifies operations as it prepares for an initial public offering (IPO) next year, when around 5% of the firm is expected to be listed in Riyadh and on other international bourses.
Last year, Judaimi, then business line head for downstream, said Saudi Aramco aims to almost triple its chemicals production to 34 MMtpy by 2030.
Over the same period Aramco's global refining capacity target is to raise it to 8 MMbpd–10 MMbpd from more than 5 MMbpd now.
Developing petrochemicals is part of the kingdom's major economic reform plan, known as Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the economy away from oil.
This will also help Aramco boost value from hydrocarbons by securing revenue streams and become less vulnerable to oil price swings.
The oil giant is planning to develop a massive oil to chemicals project with Saudi Basic Industries Corp which industry sources say will cost more than USD20 B.
As MRC wrote previously, in June 2016, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (Sabic) became one step closer to building their first plant to process crude directly into chemicals, cutting out a link in the production chain from hydrocarbons to the finished products that go into plastics and other consumer goods. The state-owned companies signed an agreement to study such a project to be located in Saudi Arabia. A joint venture is possible if the companies decide to move ahead after the study is completed by early 2017, they said. Oil companies normally refine crude into transportation fuels including gasoline and diesel and leave byproducts such as naphtha to be processed separately into chemicals.
Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
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