Aramco registered Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd (Wanhua) as the company’s first LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) customer in China on April 14, 2015 and registered ChemChina Petrochemical Co., Ltd (ChemChina) as its fifth crude customer in the country on April 28, 2015.
Wanhua, a state-owned company with the largest PDH (Propane Dehydrogenation) plant in China, is based in Yantai, Shandong Province. Wanhua is one of the largest and most rapidly developed PU suppliers in Asia. It is also the largest TDI supplier in Europe and one of the most competitive MDI producers in the world.
'Action speaks louder than words'
Mr. Ibrahim Al-Buainain, President of Aramco Asia, offers his congratulations to the LPG customer registration. “At Aramco we perceive ‘action speaks louder than words’,” said Al-Buainain, “this [registration] marks a new era of our marketing services in China.”
“Adding both ChemChina and Wanhua to our registered customer base in China demonstrates the dedicated effort and commitment of Aramco Asia’s China marketing team, who is striving to deepen Saudi Aramco’s market presence in the world’s second largest oil consumer”, said by Mr. Rakkan Trabulsi, Director of Marketing and Business Evaluation Department at Aramco Asia.
He also stressed that “many challenges lie ahead in China’s ever-changing market, but owing to a passion for our work and a positive attitude that embraces creative new approaches, we will continue exploring new supply growth opportunities in China. ”
“This is a milestone for Aramco in Chinese market as well as successful diversification of global customer base,” commented by Mr. Ali Masoud, Head of LPG team at Saudi Aramco.
Mr. Tony Liang, Purchasing Manager at Wanhua sees teaming up with Saudi Aramco will boost Wanhua’s competitiveness among its peers in the market. “It is indeed a great honor for us to be Aramco's first LPG customer in China,” said Liang. “This will definitely be a milestone and benchmark for other LPG players in China.”
Aramco's commitment to China
“This is a great step for Saudi Aramco’s LPG business in China and we will continue develop more new customers and provide excellent products and services for them in the future”, said by Eric Zhao, Marketing Manager at Aramco Asia.
ChemChina is a state-owned conglomerate with its headquarters in Beijing. The company is China's largest chemical company ranking 19th among the world's top 100 chemical corporations. ChemChina operates 9 refineries across the country with a total refining capacity over 500MBD and the crude import quota of 200MBD granted from the central government.
“By cooperating with Aramco, ChemChina will further diversify its crude sources, ensure stable supplies and improve refining margins accordingly,” said Ms. Li Shu, Deputy General Manager of ChemChina Singapore Pte Ltd, the overseas office responsible for the ME crude purchasing.
The successful registration of China’s first LPG customer and the fifth crude customer to Aramco came after six months of persistent and dedicated endeavor of Aramco Asia’s Marketing team in filtering and evaluation from a stretching list of candidates.
China has been one of the largest crude oil markets for Aramco since 1990s, while Aramco has been the largest crude oil supplier of China for at least 9 years. Currently the company supplies over 1.1 million barrels of crude oil to China every day. As of 2014, Aramco is China’s largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for around 20% of the total crude imports of the country.