SPEECH: Remarks by Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani, executive vice president of Downstream

Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and zao shang hao.

I would like to express my gratitude to all in attendance who have played a significant part in making today’s important groundbreaking a reality. 

Through the challenges and volatility impacting the global economy and energy sector over the past few years, this state-of-the-art project remained at the top of Aramco’s list of priorities.

And while today is the culmination of a great effort among all parties and a time for celebration, it also signals a critical launching point for progress still to come. 

Today we start placing further building blocks on a solid foundation already formed between us... one molded on trust, partnership and collaboration. 

As Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser said earlier this week, we aim to be an all-inclusive source of energy and chemicals for China’s long-term energy security and high-quality development. 

And by working in close collaboration with our partners on this exciting project, not only will we build a safe and reliable business that creates jobs, but also creates value for all involved.

Aramco is expanding its oil production capacity to ensure stable and reliable long-term supply to HAPCO and others in China. At the same time, we are reducing the already low-carbon intensity of our oil production, while investing in other energy transition solutions and low carbon energy products.

This aligns with our goals of delivering safe, accessible and reliable energy for the Chinese people while maintaining a leadership position in the energy transition.

This project also aligns perfectly with Aramco’s long-term Downstream strategy in liquids to chemicals, as we aim to convert 4 million barrels per day of liquids to chemicals by the end of the decade. 

And this complex is a cornerstone of our efforts to support a world-class, integrated downstream sector here in China, as petrochemicals will play a vital role in our joint success. 

Once complete, we believe HAPCO will be a model for China’s modern petrochemicals industry moving forward, able to deliver lower carbon products, chemicals, and advanced materials.

Thank you all once again for joining us on this historic day and for your trusted partnership. And thank you once more to our gracious hosts here in Liaoning. I look forward to celebrating further project milestones in the near future. 

Thank you all. Xie-xie.