Saudi Aramco senior vice president refining and oil marketing Abdulaziz al-Khayyal confirmed the commencement of operations in Fujian.
“We have begun some basic engineering work on the refinery," al-Khayyal said.
"We expect to sign a final joint venture agreement by next year,” he added, referring to a possible JV between his firm, the US giant and China’s China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.
If things go according to plan, the Fujian refinery will be expanded from the current 80,000 bopd to be able to process some 240,000 barrels of oil a day. Also envisaged are several chemical plants, including an 800,000-ton-per-year ethylene plant.
