Aramco, SABIC open engineering bids for complex

Bidding has begun for engineering work on a USD 20-billion crude oil-to-chemicals (COTC) complex in Saudi Arabia, international media reported on Thursday.

The project, the first development to be jointly led by Saudi Aramco and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), will involve the construction of several plants to process Arabian Light and Extra Light crude oil.

Yanbu and Jubail have been named as potential sites for the complex.

The COTC complex will host a 400,000-bpd integrated crude distillation and vacuum unit, a distillate hydrotreater, a vacuum gas oil hydrocracker, a residual fluid catalytic cracking unit, a mixed feed cracker, as well as polyethylene, polypropylene, butadiene and aromatics recovery units, according to Reuters.

While Thursday’s news was not confirmed by either company, a source told the news agency that bidding for the engineering segment would close on September 25, and commissioning on the plant is expected by the end of 2024.