Saudi Aramco and ConocoPhillips Confirm Yanbu Export Refinery Project

2008-05-16 17:20:56 -

- The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) today announced they have approved continued funding for the development of the Yanbu Export Refinery Project.

The Saudi Aramco and ConocoPhillips project would construct a grassroots, 400,000 barrel-per-day, full-conversion refinery in the Yanbu Industrial City, in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The refinery is being designed to process Arabian heavy crude which would be supplied by Saudi Aramco. The refinery would produce high-quality, ultra-low sulfur refined products that will meet current and future product specifications. Saudi Aramco and ConocoPhillips would each be responsible for marketing one half of the refinery's production. The refinery is targeted to start up in 2013.

The companies have completed the initial evaluation and front end engineering and design (FEED) outlined in the May 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The next phase will include the solicitation of bids, commitment of long lead items and site preparation work.

"We're pleased to be entering the next stage of development for the Yanbu export refinery project, together with our partner, ConocoPhillips," said Khalid G. Al-Buainain, Saudi Aramco senior vice president for Refining, Marketing & International. "This facility will bolster the Kingdom's refining capacity, and provide additional quantities of high quality refined products for global and domestic markets. This partnership is important to Saudi Aramco, and this initiative is an important aspect of our company's expanding downstream business portfolio," he added.

"ConocoPhillips is pleased to continue working with Saudi Aramco towards adding needed capacity to the international refining system," said Jim Gallogly, ConocoPhillips executive vice president of refining, marketing, and transportation. "The Yanbu project fits well with the company's overall strategy to invest in projects that expand our global refining presence and provide significant new supplies of clean products in an environmentally sound manner."

ConocoPhillips and Saudi Aramco are planning to form a joint-venture company, with equal interests to own and operate the proposed new refinery. Subject to required regulatory approvals, the parties plan to offer an interest in the refinery to the Saudi public.

ConocoPhillips is an integrated international energy company with interests around the world. For more information, go to www.conocophillips.com.

Owned by the Saudi Arabian Government, Saudi Aramco is a fully-integrated, global petroleum enterprise, and a world leader in exploration and producing, refining, distribution, shipping and marketing. The company manages proven reserves of 260 billion barrels of oil, the largest of any company in the world, and manages the fourth-largest gas reserves in the world.

Additional information about Saudi Aramco can be found on the following Web site: www.saudiaramco.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE "SAFE HARBOR" PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that contain projections about our revenues, income, earnings and other financial items, our plans and objectives for the future, future economic performance, or other projections or estimates about our assumptions relating to these types of statements. These statements usually relate to future events and anticipated revenues, earnings, business strategies, competitive position or other aspects of our operations or operating results. In many cases you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "continue," "could," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "should," "will," "expect," "objective," "projection," "forecast," "goal," "guidance," "outlook," "effort," "target" and other similar words. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements are based on the expectations, estimates and projections of Saudi Aramco and ConocoPhillips about their respective businesses and the petroleum industry in general on the date this statement was released. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in such forward-looking statements. Economic, business, competitive and regulatory factors that may affect ConocoPhillips' business are generally as set forth in ConocoPhillips' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Unless legally required, ConocoPhillips undertakes no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

ConocoPhillips
Bill Graham, 281-293-1978 (Media)
or
Gary Russell, 281-293-1116 (Investor Relations)
or
Saudi Aramco
Mihir Sapru, 966-3-874-5350