In-Country Off-take Study

What This Means

• The Aramco Circular Loop — nationally unique: Aramco produces petcoke as a refinery by-product at Ras Tanura. Petcoke is burned in RCJY Eastern Province boilers and industrial facilities. Vanadium-bearing fly ash is generated. Carbotura recovers V₂O₅ from that ash. V₂O₅ feeds into Aramco's Vanadium Redox Flow Battery supply chain for Saudi Arabia's 110 GW renewable energy program. Aramco's own waste product becomes the input to Aramco's own energy storage supply chain — a closed industrial loop available nowhere else in the Kingdom.
• Scale advantage over Jubail: Ras Tanura petcoke ash stream (~120 TPD ESTIMATED) is approximately 6× the Jubail petcoke ash volume and 2× Yanbu's. This is the programme's primary vanadium source by volume.
• 30 km proximity: Aramco's Dhahran headquarters is 30 km from the Ras Tanura complex. Off-take negotiation, logistics, and supply chain integration face the shortest possible path to a buyer decision.
• Ma'aden — 65% PIF-owned national mining champion with a $110B investment plan — requires processed REE and critical minerals feedstock. While the Eastern Province feedstock profile is primarily vanadium rather than REE, nickel and gallium co-produced from the petcoke ash stream provide additional critical minerals inputs to Ma'aden's battery materials division.
• SABIC's Eastern Province complex is the world's largest integrated petrochemical facility. SABIC requires Carbon Black and advanced carbon products from Dammam ACM's tire, MSW, and commercial streams — a structurally proximate buyer with procurement scale commensurate with the ACM output.

RevCon™ Output Baseline

All yields from the Circular Materials Catalog (CMC) reference — 100 TPD per module, RC3 baseline, 350 operating days. Phase Initial = 1 module. Full programme = 4 modules.

Critical Minerals (from Ras Tanura petcoke ash, Phase Initial) All volumes TBD — WARN-08

V₂O₅ volumes are TBD pending petcoke ash vanadium concentration analysis. All critical minerals outputs conditional on WARN-08 resolution. Not included in base case. Petcoke ash stream requires a separate feedstock agreement independent of SIRC CSA.

Carbon and Organics (Phase Initial — 100 TPD, 35,000 tpy)

Buyer 1 (Priority) — Saudi Aramco: V₂O₅ VRFB Supply Chain WARN-08

• Aramco-BYD JDA (April 2025): Saudi Aramco and BYD signed a Joint Development Agreement on EV efficiency and supply chain collaboration. This agreement creates structural demand for VRFB storage to support Saudi Arabia's EV charging grid — directly linked to V₂O₅ procurement.
• 110 GW renewable target: Saudi Arabia's 110 GW renewable energy programme requires grid-scale storage. VRFBs are a leading technology for multi-hour grid storage. V₂O₅ is the active electrolyte material in every VRFB cell. Saudi Arabia currently has no domestic V₂O₅ production.
• Ras Tanura vanadium concentration: Saudi Aramco's crude is heavy and sour — a known source of elevated vanadium-bearing petcoke. When burned at RCJY Eastern Province boilers, vanadium concentrates in fly ash at commercially recoverable levels. Ras Tanura ash vanadium concentration is ESTIMATED to be the highest nationally — requires site-specific ash analysis to confirm (WARN-08).
• IKTVA alignment: V₂O₅ from Dammam ACM qualifies as a domestically produced critical mineral for Aramco's IKTVA calculation. This has direct monetary value in Aramco's procurement and licensing structure — independent of unit price.

Confirmation pathway: Aramco IKTVA supplier development + SATC technology arm engagement → petcoke ash analysis (WARN-08 resolution) → V₂O₅ specification review → LOI. Engineering confirmation is the critical-path prerequisite. Estimated timeline: 9–18 months from T0 (including ash analysis).

Buyer 2 — Ma'aden: Nickel + Gallium + Advanced Metals

Ma'aden's $110 billion investment plan (Future Minerals Forum, January 2026) includes battery metals — nickel, cobalt, lithium — as a core procurement and processing target. The Eastern Province ACM provides co-produced nickel and gallium from the Ras Tanura ash stream as direct inputs to Ma'aden's battery materials division.

• Nickel (RC2-RC3): Co-concentrated with vanadium in heavy sour crude petcoke. Ma'aden's nickel sulphate processing for EV battery cathodes. Eastern Province proximity reduces logistics cost.
• Gallium (RC4): Semiconductor precursor — GaAs and GaN compound semiconductors. China controls approximately 95% of global Gallium production. ACM provides the Eastern Province's first domestic Gallium source. Ma'aden's advanced materials and semiconductor material investment programmes are direct buyers.
• High-Purity Graphite (RC3): Ma'aden's battery materials programme requires HP Graphite as an anode material precursor. 1,068 tpy Phase Initial from Dammam ACM provides a domestic source. Saudi Arabia currently imports all HP Graphite requirements.

Buyer 3 — SABIC Eastern Province: Carbon Black + Aromatics

SABIC's Jubail and Ras Al-Khair integrated petrochemical complex is the world's largest. Carbon Black and Aromatics from Dammam ACM's tire, MSW, and commercial streams provide a structurally proximate feedstock source for SABIC EP's polymer compounding and chemical operations.

• Carbon Black: 2,188 tpy Phase Initial; 8,752 tpy full programme. SABIC EP polymer compounding anchor buyer. Zero transport cost vs. import logistics.
• Aromatics (BTX): SABIC EP BTX integration. 3,589 tpy Phase Initial aromatics from ACM — an Eastern Province domestic supply point.
• Fastest ICO path: Carbon products require no WARN-08 resolution. SABIC EP engagement can commence at T0, parallel to Aramco VRFB pathway.

Confirmation pathway: SABIC EP procurement engagement → specification review → supply agreement. Estimated timeline: 6–12 months from T0. This is the base-case ICO pathway that does not depend on critical minerals confirmation.

Buyer 4 — NEOM OXAGON: Carbon Fiber Precursor + Gallium

• Carbon Fiber Precursor (RC4): 875 tpy Phase Initial. OXAGON's composite manufacturing supply chain. Eastern Province is a logistics corridor to NEOM via the Gulf and inland routes.
• Gallium (RC4 — WARN-08): OXAGON's semiconductor manufacturing tenants require Gallium. Dammam ACM from Ras Tanura ash provides a programme-level Gallium source once WARN-08 is confirmed. China's 95% Gallium supply dominance makes domestic production a strategic procurement priority.

In-Country Premium Rationale

Confirmation Pathway

1. SABIC EP — CB + Aromatics (no WARN-08 required): Fastest path. Commence at T0. No engineering risk.
2. WARN-08 resolution — Ras Tanura petcoke ash analysis: Critical-path prerequisite for all V₂O₅, Ni, Ga outputs. Ash sample collection and analysis must begin at T0 in parallel with CSA execution.
3. Aramco VRFB — V₂O₅ (after WARN-08): Highest-value single in-country off-take relationship in the programme. Engage Aramco IKTVA supplier development and SATC immediately after WARN-08 is resolved.
4. Ma'aden — Ni + Ga + Graphite: Initiate in parallel with WARN-08 resolution. Ma'aden's $110B plan timeline makes 2026–2027 the prime engagement window.
5. NEOM OXAGON — CFP + Ga: Programme-level relationship; Eastern Province volumes are additive to NEOM's own ACM output.

Risk & Sensitivity