Page 8 - DMEA Week 48 2021
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DMEA REFINING DMEA
Aramco disputes claims
about Reliance deal
MIDDLE EAST SAUDI Aramco’s president and CEO this week illustrated the company’s intention to move
rejected that talks over a major downstream towards renewables and noted that the company
tie-up between the company and India’s Reliance no longer intended to spin off the O2C division.
Industries Ltd (RIL) had been scrapped. It did note, though, that the companies
Speaking to Arab News, Amin Nasser said remained “deeply committed to creating a win-
that the talks had been paused while Reliance win partnership and will make future disclosures
carries out a restructuring process, adding as appropriate”, adding that it would continue to
that they would “continue to discuss further be Aramco’s “preferred partner for investments
with them in the future after they finish the in the private sector in India and will collaborate
restructuring”. with Saudi Aramco & SABIC for investments in
Aramco has been discussing a deal to acquire Saudi Arabia”.
a 20% stake in Reliance’s spun-off oil-to-chem- Meanwhile, Aramco signed a memorandum
icals (O2C) division for around $15bn since of understanding (MoU) to explore potential
2019, but the Indian firm reported last week supply deals with Oil and Natural Gas Corp.
that “due to [the] evolving nature of Reliance’s (ONGC) that would likely give it a foothold in
business portfolio, Reliance and Saudi Aramco the Indian company’s sizeable refining and pet-
have mutually determined that it would be ben- rochemicals slate across the states of Gujarat and
eficial for both parties to re-evaluate the pro- Karnataka.
posed investment in O2C business in light of the
changed context”. Malaysia update
The deal had been expected to take the form Speaking to CNBC Arabia, Nasser provided
of an all-stock deal and would have given Ara- an update on the company’s Pengerang Petro-
mco a minority stake in Reliance’s 1.82mn bar- chemical Co. (PRefChem) project in Malaysia
rel per day (bpd) refining slate, which includes in a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with state-owned
the world’s largest refining complex at Jamna- Petronas.
gar and another sizeable facility located within He said that work was anticipated to resume
the Jamnagar Special Economic Zone, as well by the end of the year on the 300,000 bpd refin-
as its 38.4mn tonne per year (tpy) petrochemi- ery, on which progress has been slowed by sev-
cals capacity. This would add 364,000 bpd and eral accidents since a $7bn investment was made
7.7mn tpy to the company’s net global refining in 2018.
and petchem capacities. Once the facility is fully commissioned and
Under the deal, the Saudi firm was expected Aramco’s Red Sea refinery at Jazan ramps up
to provide around 500,000 bpd of crude to the to its 400,000 bpd capacity, Aramco will have a
facilities. theoretical global refining capacity of 7.1mn bpd
However, the announcement by Reliance (3.49mn bpd net).
P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 48 02•December•2021
