Chinese refiner Rongsheng Petrochemical and Saudi Aramco are in talks for the Chinese company to buy a 50% stake in the Saudi company's refining unit SASREF.
Reuters has reported that Rongsheng is also negotiating to sell Aramco an up to a 50% stake in its unit Ningbo Zhongjin Petrochemical Co, the Chinese company said in a statement to the Shenzhen stock exchange.
Saudi Aramco Jubail Refinery Company (SASREF), located in Jubail Industrial city, processes crude oil into petroleum products and has a production capacity of 305,000 barrels per day (bpd), its website shows.
If the SASREF stake acquisition happens, it would be the first investment by a private Chinese firm in a significant Saudi refining asset.
Aramco said in March it had agreed to acquire a 10% stake in Rongsheng, an investment attached to a 20-year crude oil supply deal with Rongsheng-controlled Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp.
It has also been in talks to buy a 10% stake in Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Co, which is building a refinery complex that can process 400,000 barrels of crude a day in eastern China's Shandong province.
In September, Aramco announced plans to become a strategic investor in another private Chinese refiner Jiangsu Shenghong Petrochemical, which operates a 320,000 bpd refinery and petrochemical complex in the eastern province of Jiangsu.
Rongsheng and Aramco in talks over petrochemical deals
