Aramco to build delayed oil refinery near Yemen

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday state-owned Aramco would build an oil refinery in an underdeveloped province bordering troubled Yemen, rather than private firms that had bid for the delayed project.

The Jizan refinery is far from Saudi Arabia's producing fields and is part of a wider development plan.

The kingdom had hoped the refinery would be built and owned entirely by the private sector, a first in the world's top exporter.

But the plan failed to generate interest from foreign investors.