Saudi Arabia's national oil company Saudi Aramco is set to announce a new deal with Total aimed at establishing a new refinery in the city of Jubail as it works to meet growing global demand.

While the two companies reached an agreement over the development of the new plant last month, Aramco is likely to use the opportunity of this week's International Energy Summit to confirm the details.

It is expected that the new refinery, situated in the east of the country and close to the King Fahd Industrial Port, will be capable of producing 400,000 barrels of oil per day, with production set to begin by the end of 2012.

Commenting on the deal, Michel Benezit, president of Total Refining and Marketing, stated: "Launching this project is a major achievement, enabling Total and Saudi Aramco to build a strong strategic partnership.

"By developing this world-class project in Jubail, Saudi Aramco and Total will contribute to supply growing demand for transportation fuels and petrochemicals, especially in Asia and the Middle-East, but also in Europe where the deficit of diesel is growing."

At the same time, Saudi Aramco plans to increase the output of the Khurasis oilfield over the short-term future, taking the Kingdom's total production capacity to 12.5 million barrels per day by 2009.