Petro Rabigh at a glance

·   Petro Rabigh’s red-and-green, contemporary palm tree logo is designed to reflect: prosperity, natural resources and the environment, forward-thinking optimism, traditional Saudi culture, expansion, transparency, sophistication and the Japanese and Saudi flags

·   The Petro Rabigh plant is located on the Red Sea , on a 3,000 acre site occupied by an Aramco topping refinery

·   It currently employs around 2,000 people, 80 per cent Saudi, with other employees representing XX nations from around the globe; the plant is expected to almost double in size in the next few years

·   A proposed conversion park nearby will provide up to 5,000 additional jobs

·   Petro Rabigh has an on-site R&D facility, and continuously sends employees around the world to keep up with the latest innovations, including the US , Europe, South America and Asia

·   The Rabigh plant has its own self-contained city, complete with medical facilities, schools, a shopping mall, sports and recreational facilities, a beachfront and a park

·   A joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical, the plant is valued at around US$10 billion, making Sumitomo’s 50 per cent share the largest foreign investment ever in Saudi Arabia

·   Financing for the development featured the largest Islamic facility of any project finance transaction to date

·   Aramco will supply the operation with 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil, 95 million cubic feet per day of ethane and about 15,000 barrels per day of butane

·   This feedstock will be processed by a state-of-the-art plant that includes the world’s largest and most sophisticated High Olefins Fluid Catalytic Cracker (HOFCC) and Ethane Cracker

·   The HOFCC uses high temperatures and catalysts to convert heavy oil into gasoline, naphtha and, finally, propylene, used to make everything from insulation to durable goods

·   The Ethane Cracker uses similar “cracking” processes to convert fresh ethane into polymer grade ethylene, used in the manufacture of lubricants, detergents and other products

·   Petro Rabigh comprises 23 plants producing 18.4 million tons per annum (mpta) of petroleum-based products and 2.4 mpta of ethylene and propylene-based derivatives

·   These products will be further processed, then distributed domestically and exported to Europe and Asia via the plant’s deep-water port; China is expected to provide the plant with its largest single client

·   Upon conversion, Petro Rabigh’s products will go on to be used in such end products as: plastics, detergents, lubricants, resins, coolants, anti-freeze, paint, carpets, rope, clothing, shampoo, auto interiors, epoxy glue, insulation, film, fibres, household appliances, packaging, candles, film, pipes and thousands of other applications