Saudi oil giant to work with Chinese partners to stabilize supply chains, says company chief

Saudi oil giant Aramco plans to work with Chinese partners to maintain the safety and stability of the industrial supply chains, the company's Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan has told Xinhua.

In a written interview with Xinhua on Friday, Al-Rumayyan said his company would cooperate with its Chinese partners also in various environmental areas, such as emission reduction. "As China's economy continues to prosper, Aramco is committed to participating in every stage of China's development."

Saudi Aramco is one of the largest oil companies in the world, with operations all over the world.

Talking about the company's relationship with China, he said that Aramco delivered its first Arabian crude to China in the early 1990s.

Since Saudi Aramco and China Petrochemical Corporation jointly established the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (YASREF) in 2016, YASREF has witnessed technological, commercial and investment cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China, and has become one of the finely operated projects in the region.

This cooperation has expanded to other fields over recent years, paving the way for both Saudi Arabia and China to build strong partnerships and collaborate on projects promoting economic growth, job creation and workforce upskilling.

The company has also established multi-field cooperation with Chinese universities, including joint research on technologies to convert crude oil into petrochemical products for industrial manufacturing.

Al-Rumayyan believes that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is similar to Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 in many ways, which creates favorable conditions for his company to take part in China's development.

The company plans to work with Chinese partners to build more large-scale integrated downstream oil industry clusters in China, which includes providing sufficient crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies for oil refining, petrochemical and other industries, he said.

About the fluctuations in oil markets in recent years, he said that the severe volatility in the global energy market has prompted countries to once again recognize the importance of energy security.

As a major energy importer, China's energy demand continues to grow, and Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter, the oil giant chief noted. The strong and close partnership between the two countries will help strengthen China's energy security, he said, assuring that Saudi Aramco will play an important role.

Highlighting Aramco's competitiveness of having one of the lowest upstream carbon intensities in the world, Al-Rumayyan unveiled his company's plan to leverage advanced technologies like carbon capturing, utilization and storage, and to develop low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia, and synthetic fuels.

When it comes to future cooperation with China, he said, "There are many exciting opportunities for Aramco to cooperate with China in new energy," including carbon capturing, hydrogen production and non-metallic materials.