Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, is acquiring a 70% stake in the Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) in a $69.1 billion deal that aims to develop Aramco’s downstream growth plans, Reuters reported.
“This is a win-win-win transaction and a transformational deal for Saudi Arabia’s most important economic entities,” said Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Managing Director of the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The PIF was one of the reasons why Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO), which was originally planned for 2018, took a long time. But after several months of negotiations, the PIF along with Aramco approved the multi-billion dollar deal.
According to Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih, the biggest winner in this deal would be Saudi Arabia. The petrochemicals production capacity of both companies combined is estimated to be around 79 million tons per year. However, Aramco aims to increase its refining capacity from 4.9 million to reach 8-10 million barrels per day (b/d) by 2030.
It was previously reported that the Saudi oil giant and SABIC are building a new integrated industrial petrochemicals complex in the port city of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. The complex is expected to have a processing capacity of 400,000 barrels per day (b/d) to produce around 9 million tons of chemicals and base oils per year. The complex is expected to be operational by 2025.
