A major Red Sea oil refinery joint venture between Saudi Arabia and China is on schedule and expected to be operational in the third quarter of this year, state news agency SPA reported the kingdom's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi as saying.

Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company's (Yasref) 400,000 barrels day (bpd) refinery, a joint Saudi Aramco and Sinopec venture is slated to process heavy crude from Saudi Arabia's 900,000 bpd Manifa oilfield.

"Work at this new refinery is proceeding according to a specific schedule and will operate at a production capacity of 400,000 bpd during the third quarter of this year," Naimi said after touring the facility with oil ministry officials in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia's second largest industrial hub after Jubail.

The refinery will produce cleaner fuels such as 10 parts per million (ppm) ultra low sulphur diesel. The main products of the refinery will be 3,000 bpd of benzene, 263,000 bpd of diesel, 90,000 bpd of gasoline, 6,200 tonnes per day of pet coke and around 1,200 tonnes per day of sulphur.

Aramco has already started operating and exporting products from its new refinery in Jubail of the same size which it shares with France's Total.-Reuters