INEOS Group Ltd. said June 3 that it plans to invest $2 billion in three new petrochemical plants in Saudi Arabia after signing a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Total SA for the $5 billion project.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, and Total are planning to build a petrochemical complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, called Project Amiral that is designed to supply more than $4 billion of downstream derivatives and specialty chemicals units. The project would include the three petrochemical plants INEOS would be funding.

The investment is the U.K.-based chemicals manufacturer's first in the Middle East, according to INEOS Board Chairman James Ratcliffe.

The complex would have a 425,000-tonne acrylonitrile plant using INEOS' technology, which would be the first plant of its kind in the Middle East upon startup in 2025. INEOS would also build a 400,000-tonne LinearAlphaOlefin plant and associated PolyAlphaOlefin unit, both of which INEOS said would be the most energy efficient in the world when production starts in 2025.