Saudi
Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi
Aramco, said its planned 400,000 barrel-a-day refinery in the industrial city
of Yanbu on the Red Sea
will start production in 2014,
a year later than planned, after ConocoPhillipspulled
out from the scheme earlier this year.
The estimated $10 billion export refinery will process Arabian heavy crude oil
to produce ultra-high-quality refined products to meet the most stringent
global product specifications, the firm said in a statement late Monday posted
on its website.
In April, ConocoPhillips announced its withdrawal from the Yanbu refinery
project, which was originally set to be implemented on a joint-venture basis
and expected to start production in 2013, in a bid to reduce its exposure in the
refining and marketing business. Aramco since decided to implement the project
without partner.
Announced first in 2005, the refinery in Yanbu, located some 350 kilometers north
of Jeddah, was initially set to cost $6 billion to build. However, the
project's price tag doubled to as much as $12 billion in 2008 when raw material
and commodity prices peaked. Construction of the facility is now estimated to
cost about $10 billion.