Saudi Arabia & KAUST - National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce

World’s Largest Integrated
Petrochemical Complex to
Be Built at Ras Tanura
Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical
Company signed a detailed Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) regarding the
construction, ownership and operation of a
world-scale chemicals and plastics production
complex in Saudi Arabia, named the Ras
Tanura Integrated Project (RTIP).
Located near Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia’s
Eastern Province, the joint venture will be
operationally integrated with Saudi Aramco’s
Ras Tanura Refinery Complex and its Ju’aymah
gas processing plant, two of the largest
38 NUSACC • www.nusacc.org
facilities of its kind
in the world. The
latter two facilities
w i l l s u p p l y
feedstock to the
joint venture and
continue to be
o w n e d a n d
operated by Saudi
Aramco.
The Ras Tanura
integrated complex
will produce an
e x t e n s i v e a n d
diversified slate of
plastics and chemicals
and introduce
new value chains
and performance
products to the
Kingdom. Once
the complex is completed and fully operational,
it will be one of the largest grassroots
plastics and chemical production facilities
in the world.
“We are extremely pleased to be selected
by Saudi Aramco as their joint venture partner
to help build the Ras Tanura petrochemical
complex. This joint venture will further
strengthen Dow’s presence in the Middle East
and add to our already vast capabilities worldwide,”
commented Dow Chairman and CEO
Andrew Liveris. “Furthermore, the complex
will have a long-term, secure and reliable
feedstock position with integration to the
adjacent refinery and gas processing plant,
while positioning the new enterprise to grow
its product sales.”
Ras Tanura’s location in Saudi Arabia’s
Eastern Province puts Dow closer to emerging
regional markets. Some of the technology for
RTIP will come from Dow’s Freeport, Texas,
plant. “Freeport evolved over 60 years,”
commented Michael Gambrell, Dow’s executive
vice president. “We’re going to build Ras
Tanura in three.”
“This product will leverage our largest
refining asset and enhance its profitability by
capitalizing on the value addition opportunities
and synergies existing between refining and
petrochemicals,” explains Former Saudi Aramco
President and CEO Abdallah S. Jum’ah.
“We are extremely pleased to
be selected by Saudi Aramco
as their joint venture partner
to help build the Ras Tanura
petrochemical complex.”
Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris
“The wide range of chemical materials and
plastics to be produced by the joint venture
will help spawn other downstream chemical
conversion industries. This will strengthen
the role of the chemical sector as a key enabler
of many other future investments in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” He further noted
that resulting downstream industries will
“assist in further expanding the national
economic base, while promoting economic
diversification and capitalizing on the vast job
creation of these industries.”
The 50-50 joint venture project links Saudi
Aramco, the world’s leading energy supplier
with Dow Chemicals, the world’s leading
science and technology company. When
completed, RITP will be the single largest
foreign investment in the Kingdom.