Saudi Aramco, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Saudi Aramco Technologies, has signed a three-party Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to scale up and commercialise Aramco’s thermal crude-to-chemicals (TC2C) technology.

The JDA was signed at Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran with US oil and gas services provider Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I), and Chevron Lummus Global (CLG), a joint venture between CB&I and Chevron.

The TC2C technology has been developed by Saudi Aramco’s Research & Development Center over the past few years in order to enable higher chemicals yield than previously achievable.

This technology bypasses conventional refining steps by employing a proprietary direct conversion process, and is in line with Saudi Aramco’s strategic objectives to boost its refining capabilities.