Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (Yasref) continues to consolidate long-term strategic cooperation with Sinopec. By establishing robust operational mechanisms, the joint venture ensures stable energy supply and boosts cross-value chain collaboration. This sustained partnership underpins steady plant operation, operational efficiency improvements, and aligns Yasref’s supply chain management with globally recognized standards.
As part of its forward-looking digital strategy, Yasref deepened technical partnerships with PetroChina International and Huawei during exchange events held in Beijing recently. The cooperation focuses on deploying cutting-edge digital tools and advanced data analytics to roll out artificial intelligence across full refinery workflows.
The adoption of AI-powered technologies is expected to drastically lift asset reliability, strengthen safety performance, and enable data-driven operational decision-making with deeper insights. By deploying innovative digital solutions and expanding global technical partnerships, Yasref demonstrates firm commitment to operational excellence, technological advancement and sustainable long-term growth.
These digital initiatives position Yasref at the forefront of modern refinery management, enhancing operational resilience while contributing greater reliability and efficiency to global energy supply chains.
Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (Yasref) is a strategic refining joint venture founded in 2012 by Saudi Aramco and Sinopec, located in Yanbu Industrial City on Saudi Arabia’s west coast. Saudi Aramco holds a 62.5% equity stake, while Sinopec owns the remaining 37.5%.
The full-conversion refinery is designed to process Arabian heavy crude into premium refined fuels and petrochemical products for domestic and global markets. Its nameplate capacity stands at 400,000 barrels of heavy crude per day, producing gasoline, ultra-low-sulfur diesel, kerosene, petroleum coke, sulfur, benzene and other high-value derivatives. Equipped with advanced distillation, hydrocracking and hydrotreating units, the complex manufactures fuels and petrochemical intermediates that meet stringent environmental standards.
Commissioned in 2015 and fully operational in 2016, Yasref serves as a landmark China-Saudi energy flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative and Saudi Vision 2030, acting as a critical bridge for bilateral industrial collaboration. It has become a core platform for deepening joint efforts across the global energy value chain.
In recent years, both shareholders have pushed forward follow-up industrial expansion. Building upon the existing refining base, the two sides are planning a large-scale integrated petrochemical expansion project to expand output of high-value chemical products, raise cross-process operational synergy, and strengthen overall competitiveness in worldwide energy and chemical markets.
