Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo to start today marketing products of their JV Petro Rabigh

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Aramco) and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical Co. to start on April 1 marketing products of their joint venture Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) in the international market.

Petro Rabigh will market its output including, polypropylene, polyethylene, ethylene glycol, in the Saudi local market, the company said in a statement to the Saudi bourse, Tadawul.   

To shore up its revenue, Petro Rabigh reached an agreement with its parent companies in December, 2013 under which Aramco had agreed to supply Rabigh with 50 million cubic feet a day of methane gas or its equivalent at domestic market price. Aramco also agreed to cut international marketing fees by a third and to remove commissions to market products of Petro Rabigh in the domestic market.  Under the agreement, Aramco and Sumitomo market Rabigh’s products equally.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, and Sumitomo each own a 37.5 percent stake in Rabigh.

Rabigh petrochemical complex has an annual output capacity of 2.4 million tons of petrochemicals and a refinery with a daily capacity of 400,000 barrels of oil.