ALKHOBAR: PetroRabigh has restarted its petrochemical and refining complex, the company said late on Sunday, after a power outage shut down operations in late December.

PetroRabigh said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website it had started to ramp up production at some units at the complex, including a crude distillation unit for the 400,000 barrels per day refinery, and had started to bring back online other units including an ethane cracker. A company spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday.

PetroRabigh said on Jan. 1 it would keep the complex shut for 20 days of maintenance after supplies of power and steam from Rabigh Arabian Water and Electricity Co. (RAWEC) were cut.

The company said on Sunday power and steam supplies had returned to normal.

PetroRabigh, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, has an annual output capacity of 18 million tons of refined products and 2.4 million tons of petrochemicals.