State-owned Sinopec is closing in on two major refinery deals in the Middle East.
The oil major is moving closer to two key deals: one a $9 billion refinery with a Kuwaiti state-owned enterprise (SOE the other a 400,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Saudi Arabia. Both projects are indicative of the corporation's “go-out” policy, which looks overseas to satisfy the nation's insatiable appetite for energy. This is the same policy that has led to record non-domestic output levels by rival CNPC in 2011.
Saudi Aramco and the Chinese energy giant will sign a deal next week to build a 400,000 bpd refinery in Yanbu, bordering the Red Sea. The joint venture, now called Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Co (YASREF will be 62.5% owned by Aramco with Sinopec owning the rest. The project will be the first new refinery built by Sinopec outside of Chinese borders, as it tries to compete with rival SOE PetroChina, which has already scored a string of global refinery deals.
In Kuwait, Sinopec is also moving closer to concluding a $9 billion deal for implementing a new China-based refinery and petrochemical facility in conjunction with state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC). Upon completion, the new facility will have a 300,000 bpd refinery as well as a 1 million metric-ton-per-year ethylene plant, which will be situated in s Guangdong province and will use oil shipped exclusively from KPC.