Rongsheng Petrochemical "Exploded" by Refining and New Air, How Far is Saudi Aramco From "Getting Out"?

Rongsheng Petrochemical: Refining Recovery Boosts Stock Price

On January 22nd, Rongsheng Petrochemical closed up over 4%, with its stock price reaching a new high for the year and its total market capitalization reaching 135.1 billion yuan. Since June 23rd, 2025, its cumulative increase has been nearly 70%, and its market capitalization has rebounded by approximately 54.3 billion yuan.

The rise in Rongsheng Petrochemical's stock price is correlated with the recovery of the refining and chemical industry's prosperity. Regarding oil prices, under the influence of global monetary easing and increased crude oil production, Brent crude is expected to remain within the mid-to-high range of $50 - $60 per barrel for most of 2026. Meanwhile, "anti-internal competition" measures have led to the shutdown of small-scale capacities and restrictions on new additions in the refining industry, benefiting leading enterprises.

Rongsheng Petrochemical's core refining asset, the Zhejiang Petrochemical refining and chemical integration project, has a processing capacity of 40 million tons of crude oil per year, along with projects like Zhongjin Petrochemical and Rongsheng New Materials (Zhoushan). Additionally, the company has PTA and polyester segments, with a PTA design capacity of 21.5 million tons per year and a polyester film capacity of 430,000 tons per year. Zhejiang Petrochemical also has a sulfur production capacity of 1.21 million tons. In the first three quarters of 2025, the company's revenue was 227.815 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 7.09%; the net profit attributable to the parent company was 888 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.34%. The third quarter saw a performance reversal, with a net profit attributable to the parent company of 286 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1427% and a sequential increase of 1992.9%.

Saudi Aramco: Investment in Rongsheng Petrochemical Incurs Losses of Tens of Billions of Yuan

On March 27, 2023, Rongsheng Petrochemical's controlling shareholder, Rongsheng Holding, signed an agreement with AOC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, to transfer 1.013 billion shares at a price of 24.3 yuan per share. Saudi Aramco paid a premium of nearly 90%. The transaction was completed on July 21, with AOC investing 24.6 billion yuan to become a shareholder.

Since then, Rongsheng Petrochemical's share price declined, hitting a low of 7.71 yuan in early April 2025, with Saudi Aramco's maximum losses reaching approximately 16.8 billion yuan. Although Rongsheng Petrochemical's stock has recently strengthened, Saudi Aramco's current holdings are valued at about 13.7 billion yuan, resulting in an overall loss of approximately 10.9 billion yuan. However, Saudi Aramco became Rongsheng Petrochemical's largest crude oil supplier in 2022, and the partnership deepened in 2024 with the signing of multiple agreements.

Saudi Aramco: Multi-sector expansion in Chinese assets

Saudi Aramco’s strategic layout in China extends well beyond Rongsheng Petrochemical. On March 26, 2023, the company partnered with Norinco Group and other entities to establish a joint venture in Panjin, Liaoning, with a total investment of 83.7 billion RMB. The project is scheduled to be fully operational by 2026, with Saudi Aramco supplying up to 210,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Since then, Saudi Aramco has signed cooperation agreements or memorandums of understanding with several enterprises, including Eastern Shenghong and Nanshan Group. In 2025, Sinopec and Saudi Aramco signed a framework agreement for the expansion of the Yanbu Refinery; meanwhile, Fujian Gulei Petrochemical Co., Ltd. completed its business registration, with Saudi Aramco holding a 25% stake. Currently, Saudi Aramco has nine joint ventures in China and has established a venture capital fund of approximately 55 billion RMB. With total investments exceeding 240 billion RMB and capital contributions surpassing 90 billion RMB, the company plans to further expand its investment in China, focusing on sectors such as advanced petrochemicals.