ConocoPhillips has announced that it will no longer be part of the proposed Yanbu refinery. The project was a joint venture with Saudi Aramco. Conoco made this decision as the company has decided to reduce their investments in the downstream industry and focus more on upstream and mainly exploration projects.
Yanbu refinery details
The proposed refinery will have the capacity to process 400 000 bpd of heavy crude and will cost approximately US$ 12 billion. Completion was scheduled for 2014, however, this is now likely to change.
Project future
Saudi Aramco is currently looking at all the available options for the project. Chevron was approached to become a new partner however; it declined as it is also cutting down certain aspects of its downstream branch. The company is cutting 2000 refining jobs and is planning on reducing its downstream assets.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/26042010/the_yanbu_refinery_project/