Page 12 - DMEA Week 07 2022
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DMEA SUPPLY & PROCESSING DMEA
Aramco Trading signs supply, offtake
deal for Egypt’s Red Sea project
MEA SAUDI Arabia’s Aramco Trading Co. (ATC) this and bunker fuel.
week signed a non-binding deal to supply crude Worley was awarded a contract covering the
oil to a new refining and petrochemicals facil- project management consultancy (PMC) ser-
ity in Egypt with a provision for the offtake of vices for the early front-end engineering design
refined products and petrochemicals. (pre-FEED), FEED, and the detailed engineer-
The local Red Sea National Petrochemicals ing, procurement and construction (EPC)
Co. (Red Sea) began work on a $7.5bn facility at phases of the project.
the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) in Ain In January, ATC signed an agreement with
Sokhna in June last year. Germany’s Klesch Group for the exclusive sup-
According to documents published by Egypt’s ply of 110,000 bpd of crude oil feedstock for its
Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources Kalundborg Refinery in Denmark.
(MOPMR) in early 2021, the complex will pro- The agreement follows Klesch’s late 2021
cess just over 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) of acquisition of Equinor Refining in Denmark,
crude to produce 2.7mn tonnes per year (tpy) whose assets include the refinery, terminals in
of petrochemicals and 1.2mn tpy of petroleum Zealand and near Copenhagen and associated
products and is scheduled to be completed by the infrastructure.
end of 2024. ATC noted that the deal would provide
This week’s deal will see ATC supply 100,000 “opportunity for Arabian crude placement and
bpd of Arabian crude to the facility, suggesting third-party crude and condensate”, adding, as
that the unit’s processing capacity may be higher with the Red Sea deal, it included a provision for
than previously envisaged. ATC said that the refined products offtake.
agreement would “pave the way” for it to acquire The trader has been ramping up operations
products including polymers, olefins, and liquid over the past year and in December, signed a
refined and petrochemical products. non-binding agreement with Oman’s OQ to
It added that the facility is seen having a explore the potential for providing feedstock for
liquid-to-chemical conversion rate of around Sultanate’s new 230,000-bpd Duqm refinery and
60-70% with ATC chairman Mohammed Al the nearby petchem complex and store oil at a
Qahtani noting that the plant’s alignment with new facility nearby.
parent firm Saudi Aramco’s with “strategy to These deals, alongside a deal by ATC’s parent
maximise liquid-to-chemical conversion”. to acquire refining and fuel distribution facilities
Red Sea and SCZone announced a deal for in Poland and recent overtures to do the same
financing the facility’s development in April in Oman, China and India, highlight Aramco’s
2021, noting at the time that products would also energetic resumption of its downstream expan-
include polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester sion strategy.
P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 07 17•February•2022
