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MEOG Commentary MEOG The naphtha splitter en
anticipating receiving bids from Aramco, Ros- neft, Kuwait National Petroleum Corp. (KNPC), ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) for its 53.29% holding in BPCL.
The government is set to open up the bidding on November 4, and the move would certainly fit within Aramco’s aggressive growth strategy.
In August, the chairman of fellow Indian refiner Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said that the Saudi firm would acquire a 20% stake in his com- pany’s oil-to-chemicals division, which includes the world’s largest refinery.
With RIL’s OTC division valued at $75bn, Aramco is expected to pay $15bn to acquire the 20% interest in the firm’s refining,
petrochemicals and fuels marketing businesses. The move comes as Aramco aims to raise global refining capacity to 8-10mn bpd by 2030, with expansion focused on major Asian con-
sumers of the kingdom’s crude.
Downstream investment projects in China,
India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan are at various stages of execution, and the state oil titan is thought to be one of around 20 companies involved in the bidding for a package of eight refineries owned by Brazilian NOC Petrobras.
Most of Aramco’s current 4.9mn bpd capacity is produced through joint ventures, with around 2-3mn bpd of the total envisaged being con- verted to petrochemicals, to add to the 17mn tpy of petrochemicals already produced.
route to Ras Tanura. Source: Saudi Aramco
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