Source: Visual China

Baosteel, Saudi Aramco, the largest petroleum and natural gas company by profit in the world, and the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, have signed an agreement to establish an integrated steel plate manufacturing complex in the Kingdom. Baosteel, the subsidiary of the world's largest steelmaker China Baowu Steel Group, said it would hold 50% stakes in the complex, while Aramco and PIF each to have 25%.

The joint venture, as the first integrated steel plate manufacturing complex in the Middle East superpower as well as Baosteel’s first full-process production base overseas, is set to be located in Ras al-Khair Industrial City, one of the four new Special Economic Zones that Saudi Arabia announced recently, subject to regulatory approval.

The facility is expected to start operation by the end of 2026, and have a steel plate production capacity of up to 1.5 million tons per year. It would also be equipped with a natural gas-based direct reduced iron (DRI) furnace and an electric arc furnace, which aims to reduce CO2 emissions from the steel-making process by up to 60% compared to a traditional blast furnace. The DRI plant would be compatible with hydrogen without the need for major equipment modifications, potentially reducing CO2 emissions by up to 90% in the future.

This is the latest sign to showcase the deepening ties between Saudi Arabia and China, especially in the oil industry. The kingdom said about US$50 billion of investments signed in the China summit in December, when Chinese President Xi Jingping visited and hosted the summit.

Aramco braced more deals since then. It announced to settle agreements to acquire a 10% stake in Rongsheng Petrochemical Co. Ltd., one of China’s refining giants, for RMB 24.6 billion (US$3.6 billion), or RMB24.3 per share,  representing the premium of 88% over Rongsheng’s preannouncement close. Aramco would supply 480,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Arabian crude oil to Rongsheng affiliate Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical Co. Ltd (ZPC), under a long-term sales agreement. The deal is Aramco’s biggest foreign acquisition, according to Bloomberg data.

Representatives at Aramco visited an energy complex located in Maoming city, Guangdong province, under Oriental Energy Co, to discuss possible investments in some projects with size of more than RMB100 billion, the national newspaper Shanghai Securities News learned last month. Oriental Energy is under the process of negotiation and will not post any relevant announcement until details are confirmed, workers at the securities department of the company later responded.

TotalEnergies SE and Sinopec, China’s largest oil product supplier, are separately talking to Aramco to invest in the Jafurah development in Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reported following the Baosteel’s agreement this week. Aramco aims to raise about US$10 billion for the projects to exploit its more than $100 billion Jafurah gas development, one of the world’s largest untapped gas fields, the report cited people familiar with the matter.  

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