Saudi Arabia’s planned Ras al-Khair crude-oil-to-chemicals (COTC) complex is proceeding to plan, according to the chief executive of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), Abdulrahman al-Fageeh.

While presenting the company’s first quarter results he confirmed that the project would process 400,000 barrels of oil a day (b/d), turning them into petrochemicals.

Commenting on the project’s progress, he said: “We are on the right track”.

In February, Sabic announced the start of a feasibility study and initial engineering work to establish the large-scale complex, which is estimated to be worth $5bn.

Sabic’s ambition to build a large-scale facility that converts crude oil and liquids directly into petrochemicals has faced obstacles in the past, mainly due to its capital-intensive nature and technological challenges.

Commenting on the technology, Al-Fageeh said that the company is “still continuing to invest in changing, for example, oil into petrochemicals”.

Sabic’s planned petrochemical project in China’s Fujian Province is also proceeding to plan, according to Al-Fageeh.

He said: “It is on-track according to our plan and the master plan.”

The signing of a heads of agreement with the Chinese company Sinopec for the greenfield project in Fujian was announced in December last year.

The project will include a 320,000 barrels-per-day refinery and 1.5 million tons-per-year petrochemical cracker complex. It is expected to commence operations by the end of 2025.

Speaking at the first quarter results presentation, Al-Fageeh also said that Sabic is intending to announce more projects “once possible”.

Sabic has reported profits of SR660m ($176m) for the first quarter of 2023, a decline of 89.8 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2022 when the company reported a profit of SR6.47bn.

The company cited pressure on global sales prices for the decline in profits.

Sabic recently confirmed progress with another project to build an integrated refinery and petrochemicals project in Yanbu, on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.

Sabic and its parent company Aramco signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) in December for the Chinese chemicals company to partner in the planned petrochemicals project in Yanbu.

The aim of the MoU, signed on 15 December, is for the partners “to study the economic and technical feasibility of developing a new petrochemical complex to be integrated with an existing refinery in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia”, Aramco stated.