Saudi national oil company Aramco has signed a five-year cooperation deal with China National Building Material Group (CNBM), bringing together the world’s biggest oil and petrochemical company with one of the largest building material producers.
Aramco said possible outcomes include factories to produce wind turbine blades, hydrogen storage tanks, low-carbon building materials and energy storage solutions.
These would be built in the kingdom, and would supply Saudi Arabia’s nascent wind energy and green hydrogen industries.
Saudi Arabia plans to become a major player in the green hydrogen economy. In March it broke ground on a $5bn project to produce the fuel at the Neom development. When complete in 2026, the plant will be the world’s biggest producer of hydrogen from renewable sources.
Other areas of focus include a centre for training, inspection and accreditation, as well as a technology research and development centre.
‘New breakthroughs in materials science’
Wail Al Jaafari, Aramco’s vice-president of technical services, said the plan was to “pursue new breakthroughs in materials science that have potential to deliver tangible benefits for the building sector and beyond”.
He added that the two companies were a good fit because Aramco had expertise in non-metallic materials and CNBM understood how the industry worked.
In 2021, Aramco launched its Non-metallic Excellence and Innovation Centre for Building Materials in Beijing, in conjunction with the China Building Materials Academy, which is the science and technology branch of CNBM.
Zhou Yuxian, the chair of CNBM, added: “This agreement envisages a wide range of cooperation that has potential to positively contribute to low-carbon development, while supporting further strategic alignment between China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Subscribe here to get stories about construction around the world in your inbox three times a week
