Norton Rose Fulbright advises UCI on its involvement in Saudi Arabia’s recycling Supercenter

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised United Company for Industry (UCI) on its exchanged Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Saudi Aramco to evaluate the feasibility of a venture to support a recycling “Supercenter” in Saudi Arabia. UCI has entered the MOU with Shell & AMG Recycling B.V (SARBV) as its local partner. 

The MOU with Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) will evaluate the feasibility of a venture in support of Saudi Arabia’s vision to maximise value from its vast natural resources. Saudi Arabia is increasingly becoming a globally important country for the supply and demand of vanadium, and is looking to enable the development of a world class facility for processing refineries’ recyclable materials into valuable products. 

This “Supercenter” will be designed to support Aramco to refine its crudes in an environmentally sustainable manner through the manufacturing of fresh residue upgrading catalysts required to convert heavy oil fractions into valuable refined products. The “Supercenter” will enable local recycling of the resulting spent catalysts and gasification ash for critical metals reclamation, and it is expected to make significant contributions toward the Kingdom’s strategic circular economy goals by localizing state-of-the-art fresh catalyst and recycling technologies, supporting the realization of renewable energy and GHG emission reduction goals in the region.

Zayd Alathari, Riyadh-based partner who led on the deal, commented:

“This project will be significant for Saudi Arabia utilising its vast natural resources. We are delighted to have advised UCI who will be able to leverage their local and world class knowledge to the Supercenter.” 

Partner Kayaan Unwalla, counsel John Boehm Jr. and senior associate David Johnston led on the corporate matters, whilst Zachary Wegmann worked with Zayd on the intellectual property aspects of the transaction.