Manufacturing Aramco and PIF invest in Saudi-Chinese steel venture By Pramod Kumar July 26, 2024, 6:02 AM Pexels/Kateryna Babaieva The Saudi facility will have an annual steel plate capacity of 1.5m tonnes Saudi Aramco and the Public Investment Fund have doubled their investment in a steel plate joint venture with a Chinese company to $500 million. The two Saudi companies each own 25 percent shares in the new venture in Ras Al Khair industrial city, Bloomberg reported, quoting a statement published on the Chinese stock exchange. Chinese state-backed Baoshan Iron & Steel has doubled its investment in the venture to $1 billion. The Shanghai-listed producer holds the remaining 50 percent stake. NewsletterGet the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week The Saudi facility will have an annual steel plate capacity of 1.5 million tonnes, catering to the oil, gas, shipbuilding and construction industries in the Middle East and North Africa, the report said. It is one of a number of recent deals between Saudi Arabia and China. This month, a Chinese-Saudi partnership won a SAR7.8 billion ($2 billion) construction contract for the building of a new mixed district at Diriyah, one of the giga-projects promoted by the PIF. The Renewable Energy Localization Company, a unit of the Saudi sovereign fund, also signed three joint venture agreements with Chinese companies to support the kingdom’s clean energy needs. Last month Aramco awarded a SAR5.2 billion contract to Chinese state energy major Sinopec to expand its domestic natural gas pipeline.
