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Author: Press Release Saudi Aramco
Released 25 June 2008
Saudi Aramco has grown from essentially an exploration and production company, prior to the 1990s, to what it is today: an integrated global petroleum enterprise.
Two Saudi drilling rig employees guide the drilling pipe and bit down through the rotary table on the platform of their rig near Abqaiq, 1949.
Photo by T.F. WaltersThe company is committed to enhancing its operations and serving global markets through joint-venture or shareholding relationships. In the past, Saudi Aramco has entered business relationships around the world to strengthen international downstream integration and maximize profit from the exploration, production and sale of hydrocarbons.
The company is also committed to serving the petrochemical needs of the people of Saudi Arabia through domestic refining and marketing joint ventures. These business ventures are formed to meet domestic fuel and feedstock demand in a reliable and cost-effective manner.
To meet these commitments, Saudi Aramco has signed a series of joint venture agreements with Shell, Total, Lukoil, Sinopec, Eni, and Repsol YPF for exploration, development and production of non-associated gas. Exploration in the Rub’ al-Khali, or Empty Quarter, is ongoing.
In the Kingdom, Saudi Aramco partners with Shell in the Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Company in Jubail, and with ExxonMobil in the Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company in Yanbu’.
Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co. of Japan have embarked on a joint venture, Petro Rabigh, to transform the company’s Rabigh Refinery into a fully integrated refining and petrochemical complex. The company is also moving forward with plans to develop a joint venture petrochemical complex integrated with its Ras Tanura Refinery.
The company also has signed two memoranda of understanding with Total and ConocoPhillips for the construction of two grass-roots export refineries in Jubail and Yanbu’, respectively.
In 2007, Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Company entered into a memorandum of understanding on construction, ownership and operation of a world-scale chemicals and plastics production complex in Saudi Arabia named the Ras Tanura Integrated Project (RTIP).
Sales and Marketing
The company not only markets and exports crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas liquids and sulfur, but also ships crude oil worldwide via tankers through Vela International Marine Limited, an affiliated company, and participates in joint ventures and other affiliates at home and abroad to refine crude oil and market its products.
The Leo Star is just one of 23 Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) in the fleet of Vela International Marine Limited., Saudi Aramco’s shipping subsidiary. One of four double-hulled VLCCs delivered to Vela in 2002-2003, the Leo Star is capable of transporting more than 2 million barrels of crude oil.Saudi Aramco's sales and marketing activities are handled by three departments — crude, product and logistics — responsible for worldwide export sales of crude oil, refined products, natural gas liquids and sulfur, as well as the import of refined products to meet shortfalls in the domestic market. Besides its sales and marketing headquarters in Dhahran, the company has various subsidiaries with offices around the world that provide marketing services:
- Saudi Petroleum International, Inc., maintains offices in New York
- Saudi Petroleum Overseas, Ltd., is based in London
- Saudi Petroleum, Ltd., has offices in Tokyo, Beijing and Singapore
The Asian region remains a cornerstone of the company’s international business, and in 2005, Saudi Arabia became the No. 1 supplier of crude oil to China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
Saudi Aramco, Fujian Petrochemical Company Limited (FPCL) of China and ExxonMobil are jointly developing a project to triple the refining capacity of FPCL’s existing Fujian, China, refinery, as well as to add major petrochemical manufacturing units.