Saudi Aramco and its base oils affiliate Luberef signed an MoU on 1 January to explore the potential development of a base oil plant within the Jazan Refinery and Petrochemical Complex. Luberef says the plan is to develop a facility to produce high-value Group III+ products that would run on Unconverted Crude Oil (UCO) feedstock. It has been studying the potential development of a facility to produce up to 800,000 t/y of Group III/III+ base oils for some time (MEES, 12 December 2025). The duration of the MoU is 18 months.