KUALA LUMPUR, 17 August 2007 — Malaysian state oil and gas firm Petronas is keen on taking a role in Saudi Arabia’s Jizan oil refinery, Chief Executive Hassan Marican said yesterday.
The refinery is to be part of an “economic city” in the impoverished region of Jizan in the far south of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea coast near Yemen. The plant will have capacity to process between 250,000 and 400,000 barrels per day.
“We have been approached and we are interested in the project,” Hassan told reporters in the Malaysian capital in reply to a question about his firm’s interest in the project, but gave no further details.
Saudi Arabia aims to boost refining capacity at home to 3.4 million bpd in 2012 from 2.1 million bpd last year. Jizan is one of four new refineries the kingdom plans to build. The Kingdom has already signed deals worth $12 billion for two new refineries — one with France’s Total at Jubail and one with US ConocoPhillips in Yanbu. They will produce 800,000 bpd of products by the end of the decade.
A third refinery at Ras Tanura, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, is intended to supply the rapidly growing domestic fuel market, Saudi Aramco said in June.
Saudi media reported in May that the country’s oil ministry had shortlisted eight local firms to build and operate the Jizan refinery in partnership with international companies that would be invited to make bids.
Earlier this year, US oil firm Chevron Corp. ruled out taking a stake in the project, saying it did not make strategic sense for the company to participate.