Saudi Aramco and French energy giant Total say the $9bn petrochemical project the two companies propose to build in the eastern Saudi city of Jubail has now moved into the front-end engineering design (feed) stage.

The two companies signed a joint development agreement on 8 October at Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran to mark the progress of the Saudi Aramco Total Refining Company’s (Satorp) petrochemical project moving into the feed phase.

Aramco CEO Amin Nasser and Total’s president and CEO Patrick Pouyanné oversaw the agreement signing.

The petrochemical complex will feature the Gulf region’s largest mixed-feed cracker (processing 50 per cent ethane and refinery off-gases) with the capacity to produce 1.5 million tonnes a year of ethylene and related high-added-value derivative products, and is part of the expansion of Satorp’s downstream operations in Jubail.

Aramco owns 62.5 per cent of the joint venture, with the other 37.5 per cent share held by Total.

The petrochemical unit will be integrated with Satorp’s existing refinery to give the upcoming plant competitive feedstock advantage.

MEED previously reported that the feed documents were supposed to have been released by the project owners in Q3 of this year, although engineering firms had not received them.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the megaproject was signed during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to France in April.

While Aramco and Total have jointly committed $5bn to the petrochemical project, the facility will also provide feedstock for other petrochemical and specialty chemical plants in the Jubail industrial area and beyond, representing an additional $4bn investment by third party investors, benefitting the Saudi economy.

Therefore, the overall complex will represent an investment of approximately $9bn, and is expected to create 8,000 local direct and indirect jobs.