Saudi Aramco's planned Jizan refinery will come online in 2018, while the firm is still studying plans for a clean fuels project, chief executive Amin Nasser said at a company event on Wednesday.

The Jizan refinery, to be located in the southwest of the kingdom, is slated to process 400,000 barrels per day when fully operational.

Sources told Reuters in May that the deadline for contractors to bid to build the clean fuels project at Aramco's biggest oil refinery in Ras Tanura had been delayed until July 17.

The proposed $2 billion scheme to remove sulphur from refined products would be part of a drive to meet stricter environmental standards.  - Reuters