Aramco back to petchems drawing board
The Saudi heavyweight’s international downstream expansion strategy will need another reboot
State-controlled oil behemoth Saudi Aramco has rarely felt the need to change course when plotting upstream expansion—given monopoly production from its extensive, low-cost reserves and significant price-setting power, even the Covid-19 pandemic applied only light brakes to its bullish plans. Its downstream strategy, by contrast, has long evolved in fits and starts, dependent at home and especially abroad on the whims of international partners, feedstock considerations and more diverse market dynamics. The late-November collapse of what would have been a landmark deal to acquire a 20pc stake in the oil-to-chemicals (OTC) unit of India’s Reliance Industries—owner of the globe’s biggest refini

Also in this section
7 July 2025
The end of Grangemouth and Lindsey oil refineries marks a worrying trend across Europe amid cost and transition pressures
3 July 2025
The July/August 2025 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
2 July 2025
The global energy community will converge in Dubai on 10 December for a landmark event dedicated to shaping the future of natural gas across the region
30 June 2025
Government is sending out the right policy signals to support increased domestic gas development, but policy takes time to implement and even longer to yield results