By Will Horner


Saudi Arabian Oil Co. said Sunday it had agreed on a joint venture with Chinese partners to build a 300,000-barrel-a-day refinery in China and supply it will oil.

The project, set to be built in the Liaoning Province of northeast China, will include the refinery and a petrochemical plant that will produce up to 3.65 million metric tons of feedstocks used to make polymers.

The project is expected to cost 83.7 billion yuan ($12.19 billion), Panjin Xincheng Industrial Group, one of the venture's partners, said in a statement on social media.

The Saudi oil giant, commonly known as Saudi Aramco, will supply up to 210,000 barrels a day of crude oil feedstocks to the complex, it said.

Aramco will hold a 30% stake in Huajin Aramco Petrochemical Company, the joint venture behind the project. China's Norinco Group will hold a 51% stake while Panjin Xincheng will control the remaining 19%.

Construction will start in the second quarter after securing administrative approvals and will be fully operational by 2026, Aramco said.

The deal comes after the Saudi national oil company earlier this month reported a record annual profit of $161 billion for 2022, the largest ever by any energy firm.

-- Xavier Fontdegloria contributed to this article.


Write to Will Horner at william.horner@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-27-23 0629ET