Global British-owned Company Wood has been selected by Saudi Aramco and SABIC to develop the world’s largest fully-integrated crude oil to chemicals (COTC) complex in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The award of the contract on Thursday coincided with the current visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz to the United Kingdom. Wood is a leading global British-owned provider of project management and professional and engineering services in the industrial petrochemicals field. Within the new contract, the company will provide front end engineering design and project management services. President and CEO of Saudi Aramco Amin H. Al-Nasser said: “This is an important milestone in a partnership that we are proud of between Saudi Aramco and Sabic, a partnership that is in line with Saudi Aramco’s strategy for business integration, adding value and tackling global growth opportunities in chemicals.” “It is also important to mention that this project will achieve a direct conversion rate from crude oil to chemicals of almost 50 percent, a globally unprecedented rate. This offers the Kingdom solid opportunities to produce chemicals as a feedstock as part of Saudi Aramco’s efforts to maximize return on investments in hydrocarbon resources,” he added. Nasser also noted that the complex would have a clear positive economic impact and would contribute to generating thousands of direct and indirect jobs for Saudis. The award follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed in November 2017 between Saudi Aramco and SABIC to develop an integrated and innovative industrial complex to convert crude oil into chemicals and to assist in bringing the mega-project to its next stage of development. SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, Mr. Yousef Al Benyan, expressed his happiness and optimism with this achievement, noting that the complex would provide the highest proven rate of converting crude oil to chemicals that are achieved globally in an innovative, sustainable and competitive manner. “The COTC project will spur on a new era of industrial diversification, job creation and technology development in Saudi Arabia,” he added.