Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon and xia wu hao.
Party Secretary of Liaoning Province, His Excellency Chen Qiufa, Governor of Liaoning Province, His Excellency Tang Yijun, Chairman of Norinco Group, Mr. Jiao Kaihe, and Fu Zhongwei, Party Secretary of Panjin City.
There is a Chinese saying which translates to “courtesy calls for reciprocity”.
It is indeed a great pleasure to be here as we pay a return visit to our friends after your visit to Dhahran last October.
Now, as you may be aware, Saudi Aramco aspires to be the world's leading integrated energy and chemicals producer. For the purposes of today, I want to draw your attention to three elements of this aspiration that directly relate to you.
The first element relates to energy supply.
I believe that we are both a natural and a strategic partner of choice. For many years, we have been a reliable supplier of oil, China's second largest source of energy, and we stand ready to do so for many more years. Indeed, by maintaining our sustainable production capability of 12 million barrels per day which helps to provide market stability during times of need.
Indeed, supporting China's energy security is why we are here today. By bridging the gap between our supply and our investments in China's entire value chain, we can help meet China's needs for tomorrow.
The second element I want to highlight is our downstream strategy.
This project aligns perfectly with our own downstream strategy of becoming a global leader in refining and marketing, base lube oils, and chemicals. And it also aligns with forecasts that petrochemicals are “set to account for more than a third of the growth in oil demand to 2030, and nearly half to 2050.”
On a related note, I know some of you visited our Ras Tanura refinery last October. I sincerely hope that you came away with an appreciation for Saudi Aramco's uncompromising approach to safety, quality, efficiency, and environmental protection that defines us.
All of which brings me to the third element I want to mention: people.
I know we are all united in our determination to make this project a win-win for the people of Liaoning Province. Indeed, helping people prosper through higher quality, cleaner development is really at the heart of our undertaking.
This project will help provide the necessary fuel supply, and power and distribution infrastructure that will in turn create new manufacturing bases, logistical hubs and technology centers. These are the solid building blocks that will better integrate regional economies and boost GDP in revitalized areas like Liaoning Province.
I assure you that Saudi Aramco places as much importance on delivering for the people of China, of Liaoning Province and of Panjin City as we do for our own people in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is who we are as a Company, wherever we operate.
I am confident that Norinco and the our partners share similar values for the people of Liaoning Province and Panjin City.
In return, and to use Your Excellency Governor Tang's own recent words during our meeting in February, we know that: “Liaoning will provide the best policies, best services, and highest efficiency to this Project, the Project No.1.”
By working together, I have no doubt that we will build a safe, reliable and sustainable business that will create jobs, generate revenues, and create value and prosperity for all the people involved.
Ladies and Gentlemen, all of us at Saudi Aramco understand that strong relationships and cooperation at all levels are the keys to our success.
That is why most of our international investments are partnerships with local companies. And I have no doubt that this will be another highly successful project.
In closing, let me say we are tremendously honored to be here with you. We appreciate you spending your weekend with us, and I am confident that our visit will truly help our relationship to blossom further. Thank you, and xie xie.