Aramco President and CEO, Amin H. Nasser, said today that the world’s largest oil company continues to identify additional investment opportunities in China, which he said “occupies a key position in Aramco’s global strategy.”
During his participation at the China Development Forum in Beijing, Nasser underlined Aramco’s ongoing activities in China.
“In China, Aramco is actively supporting energy and chemical feedstock security by investing in multiple downstream projects. In fact, China is among our key investment destinations. Our investments are currently in Fujian, Liaoning, Zhejiang and Tianjin. I emphasize ‘currently’ because we are continuing to identify additional opportunities, which include energy and chemicals, as well as technology,” he noted.
China’s oil demand to shift
During his participation at the forum, the Aramco president highlighted the strides China has made across various cutting-edge science and technology disciplines. He noted that the country is already home to most of the world’s manufacturing capacity for both solar photovoltaic cells and lithium-ion batteries – at around 80 percent and 70 percent, respectively.
Moreover, roughly seven out of every 10 electric vehicles sold globally today are now manufactured in China. “All of which brings me to the critical role of energy going forward,” he said, noting that oil and gas remain critical to China’s economic growth equation.
Nasser explained that China’s oil demand will shift over time from light transport toward petrochemicals due to a rising need for plastics, synthetic fibers and other high-end materials.
“Indeed, a reliable supply of these materials will be essential to China’s high-quality critical growth industries – including wind and solar energy, automotive, aerospace and construction,” he added.
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Aramco to convert 4 million oil bpd into high-value chemicals
Nasser added that China is already the world’s largest consumer and producer of petrochemicals, accounting for nearly half of global demand. The country is becoming a major hub for the entire chemicals industry value chain, which will be critical to industries of the future.
“So Aramco’s petrochemical strategy is perfectly aligned with China’s ambitions. We plan to convert four million barrels of oil per day into high-value chemicals within the next decade – and we already are about halfway there,” he noted.
The Aramco president added that the company sees China as a key partner and seeks to further strengthen this relationship along multiple avenues. In November, Aramco and Sinopec Corp launched a $9.82 billion refinery and petrochemical complex project in southeast China’s Fujian province. This project marked Aramco’s second major refining and petrochemical joint venture in the Asian country.
Aramco also acquired a 10 percent stake in Rongsheng Petrochemical for approximately $3.6 billion in 2023.
In April last year, Aramco also announced that it entered into discussions with Hengli Group regarding the potential acquisition of a 10 percent stake in Hengli Petrochemical. Hengli Petrochemical owns and operates a 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery and integrated chemicals complex in Liaoning Province, China, and several plants and production facilities in Jiangsu and Guangdong Provinces.
