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KOREA
from OG36
South Korean President and Aramco CEO attend S-OIL’s $7bn Shaheen ceremony
In March, South Korean President Yoon and Aramco President & CEO Amin H Nasser attended the breaking ground ceremony for the $7 billion Shaheen petrochemical project in Ulsan, South Korea.
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Ministers and senior officials from both countries also attended the milestone event. The Shaheen project, which was announced in November 2022, is being developed by Aramco affiliate S-OIL and is a key part of Aramco’s regional crude to chemicals strategy.
“We are deeply honoured by the presence of His Excellency President Yoon at this historic breaking ground ceremony,” said Amin H Nasser, Aramco President & CEO. “Shaheen is among Aramco’s biggest international downstream investments, representing a significant and sizeable step forward in our liquids-to-chemicals expansion and another major milestone in further strengthening our presence in Korea.”
About Shaheen
Shaheen is Aramco’s biggest investment in Korea to date and is expected to be one of the largest integrated steam crackers in the world. It is also the first major commercial deployment of Aramco’s thermal crude to chemicals technology, that was developed in collaboration with Lummus Technology.
The $7 billion Shaheen project aims to convert crude oil into petrochemical feedstock and would represent the first commercialisation of Aramco and Lummus Technology’s TC2C thermal crude to chemicals technology, which increases chemical yield and reduces operating costs. It follows an earlier $4 billion investment into the first phase of the petrochemical expansion completed in 2018.
Located at S-Oil’s existing site in Ulsan, the new plant is planned to have the capacity to produce up to 3.2 million tons of petrochemicals annually and include a facility to produce high-value polymers. The project is expected to be completed by 2026.
The steam cracker is expected to process by-products from crude processing, including naphtha and off-gas, to produce ethylene — a building block petrochemical used to make thousands of everyday items.
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