PKN Orlen’s Gdansk refinery
Aramco pushes crude-to-chemicals frontiers
A trio of major project announcements signal the Saudi heavyweight’s renewed focus on maximising petchems yield
A brief post on the local Tadawul stock exchange by Saudi Aramco’s petrochemicals subsidiary Sabic in late November revealed the resurrection of potentially one of the most-significant projects in either firm’s history: the development of a huge crude-oil-to-chemicals (COTC) complex on the Kingdom’s east coast. Just a week earlier, the parent company’s South Korean joint venture, S-Oil, announced FID on a similar scheme first formally mooted five years ago—again designed to maximise the chemical yield from each barrel of oil. And plans for a more traditional refinery/petchems integration in Poland served to hammer home the message of a renewed Aramco push further downstream. The firm’s state
Also in this section
6 February 2026
The long close relationship between key supplier Qatar and pivotal buyer Japan becomes even deeper following new landmark deal
6 February 2026
Partnerships across the LNG value chain have evolved over time, growing in both complexity and importance, according to panellists at LNG2026
6 February 2026
Nigeria's mega-refinery is still trying to solve many challenges, all while its owner talks up expansion
5 February 2026
While broadly supportive of EU efforts to tackle methane emissions, representatives of the gas industry warn it could deter supply contracting if timelines and compliance requirements are not made more pragmatic
