Aramco Eyes Stake in PetroChina Refinery

Saudi Aramco is negotiating a deal to buy a stake of more than 30% in a 260,000-bpd refinery in China owned by state firm PetroChina, in a transaction valued at up to $2 billion, Oil Price reported, quoting people familiar with the talks. According to one of the people, Saudi Arabia could provide some of the crude oil for the refinery in Yunnan Province, and could also buy some of the retail assets of PetroChina. Aramco and PetroChina have been discussing for years plans for Saudi Arabia to provide crude to a PetroChina refinery in exchange for a stake in the plant, but no deal has been sealed yet. Back in 2011, Saudi Aramco said it had signed a memorandum of understanding to provide up to 200,000 bpd of Arabian crude oil via a long-term contract to the PetroChina refinery in Yunnan, which was then in the planning stage.