Saudi Aramco, Sinopec to expand Yasref petrochemicals complex

Saudi Aramco has signed a deal with China's Sinopec to expand a petrochemicals complex operated by their Yasref joint venture on the kingdom's western coast, as per Reuters.

Aramco and Sinopec have partnered in several ventures as Saudi Arabia looks to expand its refining business, which can help to offset drops in crude oil prices.

An escalating trade war between the United States and China following U.S. President Donald Trump's imposition of sweeping tariffs has raised fears in markets of global recession and sent international crude prices to their lowest in over four years.

Aramco said the partners aimed to build a mixed feed steam cracker with a capacity of 1.8 million metric tons per annum and an aromatics complex with a capacity of 1.5 mtpa. "The Yasref expansion project represents a significant milestone in our bilateral partnership, ushering in a new phase of deeper and more far-reaching collaboration," Sinopec President Zhao Dong said in an Aramco statement.

The announcement coincides with the tenth anniversary of Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company, or Yasref, which is 62.5% owned by Aramco and 37.5% by Sinopec. It already processes 400,000 barrels per day of Arabian heavy crude oil to produce transportation fuels and other refined products, according to its website.

Aramco has a long-term liquids-to-chemicals strategy to process up to 4 million barrels per day of its crude into petrochemicals by 2030. In its annual report published last month, it said 53% of its upstream crude oil production was used in its downstream operations in 2024, up from 47% the previous year.

Other ventures with Sinopec include a refinery and petrochemical complex in southeast China's Fujian province that Sinopec in November said it had started constructing with Aramco. Aramco also holds a stake in the Fujian Refining & Petrochemical Company, which is half-owned by a Sinopec joint venture, and Aramco chemicals subsidiary SABIC has an operational joint venture with Sinopec.

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Acron increased commercial output 11% year-on-year in Q1 2025 to 2.3 million tonnes, the Russian fertilizer producer said, as per Interfax.

Output of mineral fertilizers increased 8% to 1.9 million tonnes. Output of industrial products increased 27% to just over 300,000 tonnes.

"The high figures have resulted from the major repairs and upgrading the production facilities conducted last year. Consequently, the No. 3 ammonia unit in Veliky Novgorod is already operating in commissioning mode at increased capacity after the main reconstruction work, with output increased by 27% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Record ammonia output [+10% compared to the first quarter of 2024] has resulted in a rise in the production of almost the entire range of manufactured products. Moreover, we plan to carry out a similar reconstruction of another ammonia unit this year that should allow us to boost production of mineral fertilizer and other products further," Acron's board of directors chairman Alexander Popov was quoted as saying in the statement.

Oleniy Ruchei Mining and Processing Plant (GOK) ramped up output of apatite concentrate 18% to 355,000 tonnes in the first quarter. Launching the third crushing and conveyor complex, which is planned for this year, should ensure further growth in productivity of the underground mine, Popov said. Oleniy Ruchei plans to produce 1.4 million tonnes of apatite concentrate this year.

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Latin American and African countries, as well as India, Southeast Asia and China, are priority destinations for exports of mineral fertilizers and agricultural products through Russia's Baltic ports, and their importance will increase in the near future, General Director of the Agency for Economic Transformation and Development (AETD) Vladislav Onishchenko said Interfax.

"Ports in the northwest, Baltic ports, are primarily focused on handling what will always be valuable. That's food and to a large extent everything that leads to it - that is, fertilizers, oilseeds," Onishchenko said during a round table on the development of transport infrastructure in northwestern Russia.

Growing demand for these products is expected in these regions of the world, he said. "This is linked to two basic factors: population growth, which dominates in the case of Africa, India, and to some extent Latin America, and income growth, which increases demand for the same food products," he said.

According to his forecast, this trend will be observed over the coming decades. "Therefore, the demand for export routes through the northwest ports, Baltic ports, will only continue to grow," he said.

According to his presentation, fertilizer imports are a priority for Latin America and India; for African countries - agricultural products, and for Southeast Asia and China both fertilizers and agricultural products.

Earlier, Dmitry Yalov, the deputy head of the Leningrad region government and the chairman of the region's Economic Development and Investment Activities Committee, said that Russian ports in the Baltic basin (excluding the port of Kaliningrad) handled 259.2 million tonnes of cargo in 2024, maintaining the previous year's level. In the structure of cargo transported by rail, the largest shares were coal (44.5 million tonnes), petroleum products, oil and gas (37.7 million tonnes), and fertilizers (31.6 million tonnes). A total of 84% of all mineral fertilizers are handled via the Baltic, Yalov said.

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The investment firms Strategic Value Partners LLC (Greenwich, Cincinnati) and its affiliates, and Blantyre Capital Ltd (London) have acquired OQ Chemicals GmbH (Monheim, Germany), a producer of oxo-alcohols, according to a Strategic Value Partners statement April 9.

Financial details have not been disclosed. In July 2024, the owner of OQ Chemicals, Oman’s state-run OQ SAOC (Muscat), confirmed that it was going to start a sales process for the company. OQ Chemicals had said at the time that it had reached a short-term financing deal of €75 million with a number of its key lenders.

OQ Chemicals has a workforce of 1,200 and production sites at Oberhausen and Marl, Germany; Amsterdam; Nanjing, China; and Bay City and Bishop, Texas. The company is a leading manufacturer of oxo intermediates and oxo performance chemicals.

“It produces alcohols, polyols, plasticizers, carboxylic acids, specialty esters, and amines that are vital to the production of paints, coatings, plastics, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, and other essential sectors,” the statement said.

OQ Chemicals will change its name back to Oxea, as part of the acquisition. Oxea had been renamed to OQ Chemicals in May 2020, as part of its final integration into OQ, the company formed from the merger of Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Orpic Group.

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The Russian automotive group Sollers has started the large-scale assembly of UAZ vehicles in Cuba, the company's press service said Interfax.

The project has been implemented by the Russian partner and UAZ distributor Echo-Export LLC in collaboration with the Cuban company EISA.

Modern assembly equipment has been installed at a factory located in the industrial zone of the Cuban capital Havana, and product quality control systems have been implemented, the press service said.

The first models to roll off the assembly line are the UAZ Patriot and Pickup, fully adapted to the climate and road conditions of the region. The vehicles are being assembled using the large-unit assembly method (DKD/SKD) from kits supplied by the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant.

The planned production volume at the first stage, after the plant reaches its designed capacity, will be up to 500 vehicles per year. The plant is expected to reach full capacity by September 2025. The maximum production volume when operating in three shifts will be 1,500 units per year. In the future, the model range is expected to expand, with particular emphasis on the commercial UAZ Profi. Technical oversight and quality control of the produced vehicles will be handled by representatives of Echo-Export LLC.

"Cuba is a historic partner of UAZ, and we are confident that consumers will appreciate the effectiveness and functionality of our uniquely Russian SUVs, which fully meet the needs of the Cuban market. Our regional distributor, Echo-Export LLC, has all the necessary competencies to monitor the efficiency of the assembly line, control quality and support customers," UAZ LLC's project manager for organizing assembly production in Cuba, Sergei Dorokhov was quoted as saying by the press service.

The company has established a system for servicing and supplying spare parts from the central warehouse in Havana, Echo-Export LLC Commercial Director Alexei Kivintsev said. "Our company is carrying out a phased certification of workshops and updating equipment to ensure high-quality service for customers across all regions of Cuba," he said.

Deepening cooperation with UAZ is a significant milestone in the development of Cuba's national industry, the CEO of EISA, Emilio Napoles Soto, said. "Our project helps reduce dependency on imports, while also setting a solid technological foundation and creating favorable conditions for knowledge transfer," he said.

As reported, Sollers' sales in the Russian market grew 9% in 2024, reaching 50,087 units, due to a 65.2% increase in sales of new commercial vehicles, totaling 14,112 units. In contrast, UAZ brand sales declined 3.8% to 35,975 units last year.

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