Saudi Aramco, France’s Total in talks for mixed-feed cracker: report

State-run Saudi Aramco and France's Total are in initial talks to build a mixed-feed cracker and derivatives with an expected annual capacity of 1.5 million tons in Jubail, near their joint refining complex, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources close to the matter.

The cost of the joint venture is projected to range between $3 billion and $5 billion.

Both companies have launched the bidding for the feasibility study, one of the sources said, adding that the study did not include a refinery expansion.

The feedstock would be provided by SATORP, a joint venture between Aramco and Total, and Sadara, which is owned by the Saudi oil giant and Dow Chemical, also in Jubail.

Aramco and Total have already been operating the 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) SATORP refinery integrated with petrochemical production. The two oil majors have mulled increasing petrochemical output for many years, it was reported.