Aramco and Total agree $9.6bn Jubail deal

Saudi Aramco and the French supermajor Total are set to invest $9.6bn in the Saudi Aramco Total Refining Co (Satorp) oil refinery at Jubail.

“Today we are marking a major milestone in our partnership with Total, which has been strong historically but is now stronger than ever,” said Khalid Al-Falih, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco.

“The Jubail Export Refinery is a strategic project for Saudi Aramco and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and its timely implementation will ensure that global and regional markets will be well supplied with high quality products in the next decade.

“Our commitment to fund a project of this scale demonstrates our confidence that energy markets will grow in the years to come, and our confidence that the Kingdom is the ideal location for energy investments by global investors.”

The contract marks an important step in the execution of this 400,000 barrel per day full-conversion refinery in Saudi Arabia, which the firm says will be fully operational by the second half of 2013.

The refinery will create approximately 1,200 jobs in the Kingdom, each of which typically creates five to six indirect job opportunities, Aramco said in a statement released on Thursday.

“Today, we have passed an important milestone, which shows the quality of the strategic partnership between our two companies and their determination to bring off such a far-reaching project, even in a weaker economic environment,” said Christophe de Margerie, Chief Executive Officer of Total.

“As a result, we will be able to meet, from 2013, the increasing demand for high-quality refined products from Asia and the Middle East.”

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