Saudi Aramco has awarded contracts worth more than $3.3 billion to Chinese company Sinopec and Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas to build a gas facility in Saudi Arabia.
According to a disclosure on the Spanish Stock Exchange, Sinopec will own 65 percent of the project, and Tecnicas Reunidas will have a 35 percent share.
The statement added that the contracts cover engineering, procurement, and construction, including building liquefied natural gas (LNG) distillation facilities in the Al-Riyas project. They also include the provision of storage and export facilities.
The new facilities that will be developed by the two companies will fractionate 510,000 barrels per day (MBD) of NGLs. The project's expected duration is about 46 months for Package 1 and about 41 months for Package 2.
This is the first project awarded to Tecnicas Reunidas by Saudi Aramco following the Strategic Alliance recently signed by the Spanish company with Sinopec Engineering Group to develop common projects.
The project's primary objective is to enable the fractionation of NGLs, thus producing ethane, propane, butane, and pentane.
In October, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the company is looking at more investments in LNG to boost its plans to become a leading player in the seaborne gas market.
In September 2023, Aramco signed definitive agreements to acquire a strategic minority stake in MidOcean Energy for $500 million. The company said the agreement with MidOcean Energy marks Aramco’s first international investment in LNG.