DAMMAM, May 9: Saudi Arabia will offer shares in its planned joint venture export refinery in Yanbu to the public, a Saudi Aramco official said on Monday. The state-owned oil producer is discussing building the multi-billion dollar, 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) project with several potential international partners.

“As a part of the project we envision a future domestic initial public offering that will allow local investors a chance to own stocks in this refinery venture,” said Isam al-Bayat, Aramco vice-president for new business development.

Bayat gave no time-frame for the IPO, which he said would offer stock “partly from the partner and partly from our share” in the refinery.

An Aramco official said last month the company was talking to possible partners from around the world and hoped to finalize a deal to build the Yanbu plant within about a year.

“We are talking to many international investors,” Bayat told reporters at a conference on Saudi oil, power, water and petrochemical “mega projects.”

“We have not short-listed the final list yet but we are talking to American, Asian and European firms,” he said.

The Yanbu plant is one of the three major Aramco projects to upgrade and expand Saudi Arabia’s refining system, which can process around 2.1 million barrels a day of crude, and bring the company into the lucrative Gulf petrochemical sector.

Aramco and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd are investing $6-7 billion to upgrade the Rabigh refinery by the Red Sea and also build a petrochemical plant by 2008.—Reuters