Dammam – Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company Aramco has signed a joint development agreement with Chinese defense conglomerate China North Industries Group Corp (Norinco) for a refining, petrochemical and retail project.

The cornerstone was put northeast China in Panjin, Liaoning province.

The project was highly welcomed during the visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to China last March.

On site in Panjin, Abdulaziz al-Judaimi, senior vice president downstream at Saudi Aramco, Yin Jiaxu, chairman of Norinco Group, Zhang Lei, Liaoning Executive Deputy Governor, Nabil al-Nuaim, President of Aramco Asia, and Gao Ke, Panjin Municipal Party secretary, attended.

Judaimi said: “Norinco and the government of Liaoning province are amongst the best partners to be in this project considering the great value proposition they are bringing to the table.”

He added, “there might be some challenges that we may face in the journey of implementing this project in the future, as in any worthy endeavor, but I am confident that we will be able to overcome them taking into consideration first Saudi Aramco’s proven record of project management skills while executing mega projects and second the strong commitment shown by all the stakeholders to work together as one team to make sure this project is a big success.”

The project is a key element in China’s petrochemical industry forward planning and the revitalization drive for the old industrial base in northeast China.

It is a major project in Norinco’s drive to develop the industrial value chain.