Upon completion in 2015, the two plants will have refining capacity of 800,000 barrels per day, reports Reuters.
Medley Global Advisors managing director Yasser Elguindi said: "There is clearly a rebalancing in the kingdom as it is becoming a bigger player in the downstream. While Saudi may lose on crude exports, it will be gaining as product exports rise in the coming years."
Rapidan Group energy consultancy president Bob McNally said: "One thing I think is very sure you are going to see in the next 3-5 years is going to be a shift in Saudi exports away from crude and towards products."
According to the Joint Organisations Data Initiative’s (JODI) latest official data, Saudi Arabia had exported 6.663 million barrels of crude per day in August, down from 6.989 million bpd in July.
