French oil major Total S.A. (12027.FR) said Wednesday that a $10 billion refinery and petrochemical project in Saudi Arabia will be delayed because of the current global financial crisis.

A spokesman for the company told Zawya Dow Jones on Wednesday that contracts to build the plant in Jubail, which is a joint-venture with Saudi Arabian Oil Co., will be set back by at least three months.

"The project will continue but there are new conditions and recent developments like the financial and economic crisis and the oil market to consider," the Paris-based spokesman who declined to be identified said.

Aramco and Total signed in June an agreement to build an integrated petrochemical and refinery plant in Jubail, on Saudi's east coast, that will cost more than $10 billion.

The agreement to create the Jubail Refining and Petrochemical Co., will see Aramco hold a 62.5% stake and Total 37.5%.

The 400,000 barrels-a-day refinery project was supposed to see tenders awarded for all engineering and construction packages in the first three months of next year. The target start-up date is the end of 2012.

The facility will produce 700,000 metric tons annually of paraxylene, used in producing polyester fibers, 140,000 tons of benzene and 200,000 tons of polymer-grade propylene. It will process Arabian heavy crude oil.

"Awarding the contracts will be delayed by three months to the second quarter of 2009," the spokesman said.

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