Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co (Petro Rabigh) said on Monday it would delay to the first quarter of 2009 the commercial launch of operations at its $10.3 billion refining and petrochemical plant. The firm, a joint venture between state oil giant Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemicals, said in a statement on Sunday it may delay the start of some units to the first quarter of 2009. Spokesman Eyad Al-Ajaj said the delay would affect the whole of the refining and petrochemical complex. “As we said in the press release we are planning to start in the first quarter of 2009. We are talking about the whole start of the whole complex; it will be for the first quarter of 2009 instead of the last quarter of 2008,” Ajaj said. The firm targets the first quarter for both the experimental and commercial launches of the complex, he said. “We don't anticipate any further delay, at least for the time being,” he added. The complex was 97.6 percent complete at the end of August, he added. Aramco and Sumitomo Chemicals paired up in 2005 to upgrade a 400,000 barrel per day (bpd) oil refinery and add a petrochemical complex. Moreover, PetroRabigh said it will take over the operations of Saudi Aramco refinery in Rabigh starting Oct. 1 this year. The decision was taken on Saturday. It also said additional oil production of up to 10,000,000 barrels per day in the Gulf in 2015 is considered. More than $300 billion is expected to be pumped into exploration and production investment in the Gulf as a result of planned expansion, the company said.
