Saudi Aramco and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), already partners in the development of technology to produce chemicals directly from crude oil, will merge.
Aramco signed an agreement under study since last year to buy 70% of the chemical manufacturer from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (OGJ Online, July 24, 2018).
The private transaction is worth $69.1 billion. Aramco said it has no plans to acquire the remaining 30% of SABIC shares, which are publicly traded.
SABIC operates in more than 50 companies. It produced 75 million tonnes/year of chemicals last year, when it recorded record net income of $5.7 billion, sales of $45 billion, and total assets of $85 billion.
Aramco and SABIC agreed in 2017 to collaborate on development of technology to produce chemicals from crude oil. Last year they identified Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, as the site of a 400,000-b/d fully integrated crude-oil-to-chemicals complex (OGJ Online, Nov. 1, 2018).
Aramco seeks to expand its global downstream interests to 8-10 million b/d by 2030 from 4.9 million b/d at present. Of the target capacity, 2-3 million b/d will be for production of petrochemicals, expected to be the main growth segment of future oil demand.
“This downstream portfolio will consume significant quantities of Arabian crude oil,” Aramco said in a press release.