SAUDI ARABIA: Sabic, Aramco awards Wood contract for 'world's largest' COTC complex

Wood said it has been chosen by Sabic and Saudi Aramco to develop the "world's largest" crude oil-to-chemicals (COTC) complex in Saudi Arabia. Late last year, Sabic and Aramco signed a memorandum of understanding to build the project, which is estimated to cost over USD 20 billion, in either Yanbu or Jubail.

The project includes a 400,000 b/d integrated crude distillation and vacuum unit, a distillate hydrotreater, a vacuum gas oil hydrocracker, a residual fluid catalytic cracking unit, a mixed feed cracker, as well as polyethylene, polypropylene, butadiene and aromatics recovery units.

Operations are scheduled to begin in 2025. Under the contract, Wood will provide pre-front end engineering design (pre-FEED), FEED and project management services during the engineering, procurement and construction phase. The contract is expected to continue through the start of operations.

"We are proud to have been selected to be a contractor with Saudi Aramco and Sabic to deliver this significant greenfield onshore facility that will be a first for Saudi Arabia and among the first in the world to integrate the refinery and chemical process in this way," noted Wood Chief Executive Robin Watson.

Source: Weekly “PetroChemical News”, Durham, NC, USA; 12 Mar 2018
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)