Saudi Aramco recently signed an agreement with the Chinese province of Zhejiang during the second International Petroleum and Natural Gas Enterprises Conference (IPEC) at Dammam to acquire a stake in a new refinery project of Zhejiang Petrochemicals Corporation. The step is part of the company’s initiatives to raise investment in China’s petrochemical sector.
Saudi Aramco plays an important role part in China’s energy security and has steadily increased its supply to Chinese oil companies, making it the largest supplier of oil to China since 2006, according to Abdulaziz Al Judaimi, senior vice president, downstream.
Saudi Aramco is working to create a better balance between world-class exploration, production, refining and processing, as the company’s strategy is to strengthen its resources’ base through both increased horizontal and vertical integration across the hydrocarbon value chain, a company press release quoted Judaimi as saying.
The company is also working to establish major joint ventures for refining, marketing and petrochemicals industries in major consuming countries, such as China and India and Malaysia.