SABIC and Saudi Aramco have awarded a contract to the UK’s Wood Group for the development of their proposed $20 billion crude oil-to-chemicals complex at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

The signing of the contract coincided with the visit of Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the UK for three days last week.

Under the terms of the contract, the Aberdeen, Scotland-based company, which acquired UK engineering and project management group Amec Foster Wheeler last October, will finalize the project’s scope, select technology providers, update the project’s economics and carry out front end engineering design ( FEED) and project management services.

The complex is expected to process 400,000 bbl/d of crude oil to produce around 9 million t/y of chemicals, including PE, PP, butadiene, aromatics and base oils.

Saudi Aramco’s president and CEO, Amin Al-Nasser, said the project will achieve a direct conversion rate from crude oil to chemicals of almost 50%, which he claimed was unprecedented in the world.

 “This offers the Kingdom solid opportunities to produce chemicals as a feedstock as part of Saudi Aramco’s efforts to maximize return on investments in hydrocarbon resources. It will be capable of maximizing chemical yield, recycling byproducts, optimizing resources and driving efficiencies of scale,” Al-Nasser said.

The contract is expected to continue through to the start of operations, which is scheduled for 2025. Wood will execute the contract from its offices in Reading, UK, and Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

 A final investment decision on the project is expected to be made by the end of 2019.