(Yicai) Sept. 12 -- Chinese refiner Rongsheng Petrochemical and Saudi Arabian Oil Company, its second-largest investor, have signed a deal to jointly expand the Saudi Aramco Jubail Refinery, deepening the cooperation between the two countries in the energy and petrochemical sectors.

The project includes expanding capacity at the Jubail refinery to enhance product flexibility, complexity, and quality, the Saudi oil giant, better known as Aramco, said yesterday. Investment amounts, the joint venture split, and cooperation details will be decided in subsequent agreements, it added.

The deal reflects “our collective intention to elevate our relationships in vital sectors to advance our downstream objectives, contribute to both China’s and Saudi Arabia’s vibrant energy and petrochemicals sectors, and help develop future technology solutions,” said Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani, Aramco’s president of downstream operations.

Originally a joint venture of Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell, the Jubail refinery, also known as SASREF, is located in Saudi Arabia’s Jubail Industrial City and is one of the country’s key crude oil refineries. With a 305,000 barrels-per-day capacity, it turn out products such as gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, and liquefied petroleum gas.

Rongsheng and Aramco signed a memorandum of understanding in January, indicating that they were discussing the possibility of the Chinese company taking a 50 percent stake in SASREF. That same month, they also said they would partner on a new CNY67.5 billion (USD9.5 billion) facility in Zhoushan, China.

There are also ongoing talks about Aramco acquiring as much as half of Rongsheng’s unit Zhongjin Petrochemical along with a collaborative upgrade and expansion of the Ningbo-based subsidiary's facilities.

Rongsheng, the world's largest producer of paraxylene and purified terephthalic acid, inked a deal with Aramco in April outlining their commitment to co-develop expansion projects at both Zhongjin Petrochemical and SASREF in proportion to their respective stakes.

Editor: Martin Kadiev