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
1 April 2026
Golden Pass’s startup offers QatarEnergy a timely boost but may also force a difficult choice between honouring disrupted contracts and capitalising on soaring spot LNG prices
1 April 2026
It is not a case of if or when, but the length and magnitude of economic damage from elevated oil prices
1 April 2026
The US-Iran conflict demonstrates the need for diversification in several senses of the word. It also exposes the limits of Washington applying pressure on major oil and gas producers it considers geopolitical adversaries
31 March 2026
Disappointing results in its bidding round are a reality check for Libya, and global exploration generally
