Aramco, SABIC award COTC complex contract to UK’s Wood Group

Saudi Aramco and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) have awarded a contract to UK-based Wood Group to develop their fully integrated crude oil to chemicals (COTC) complex in Saudi Arabia.

The British energy services provider will manage the COTC project and provide front-end engineering design (FEED), Aramco said in a statement.

The value of the contract was not disclosed.

The contract award coincided with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s recently-concluded visit to the UK, during which Saudi Arabia and the UK discussed further strengthening business relations.

In 2017, Saudi Aramco and SABIC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop the COTC project, expected to be the largest in the world.

“It is also important to mention that this project will achieve a direct conversion rate from crude oil to chemicals of almost 50 percent, a globally unprecedented rate,” Amin Al-Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, said in the statement.

“This offers the Kingdom solid opportunities to produce chemicals as a feedstock as part of Saudi Aramco’s efforts to maximize return on investments in hydrocarbon resources,” he added.

Aramco said the COTC project will be capable of maximizing chemical yield, recycling byproducts, optimizing resources and driving efficiencies of scale. The project is also expected to create thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities for Saudi citizens.

“The COTC technology will enable us to squeeze as much value as possible from our feedstock, thereby benefitting our shareholders, our customers and the planet,” said Yousef Al-Benyan, SABIC vice-chairman and CEO.

By 2030, the COTC complex is expected to become a key contributor to the Kingdom’s gross domestic product and play an important role in helping with the economic diversification away from crude exports to higher value industrial products.