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Expanding the gas, refining, and conversion of the feed crude into finished
petrochemicals and power products; utility and offsite systems to support
industries the refinery operation; and associated feed,
intermediate and product storage facilities.
To comply with mandatory S specifications for
gasoline and diesel between 2013 and 2016, • Dow Chemical (35%) and Saudi Aramco
Saudi Arabia is constructing multiple clean-fuel (65%) are constructing a fully integrated
projects aimed at reducing the S content in diesel refining complex under the JV Sadara
and gasoline to 10 ppm and lowering the benzene Chemical Co. The 3 MMtpy facility will
content in gasoline to 1%. consist of 26 chemical manufacturing units
NOC Saudi Aramco has invested in excess of $ and produce 1.5 MMtpy of ethylene and
100 B in the last decade to support long-term 400 Mtpy of propylene. The complex will
sustainability of oil demand [2]. In the near term, also produce a variety of chemicals, such
Saudi Aramco will operate 8 MMbpd - 10 MMbpd as ethylene, propylene oxide, propylene,
of refining capacity, much of which will be directed benzene, toluene, polyethylene, propylene
to high-demand and growth markets of AP, Europe glycol, polyolefin elastomers and more
and the ME. [4]. The Sadara complex will use ethane
The NOC is upgrading the country’s domestic and naphtha as feedstock, which will be
refineries to produce lower-S transportation fuels, supplied from Saudi Aramco Total Refining
and several projects have been designed to and Petrochemical Co.’s (Satorp’s) refinery.
produce near-zero-S fuels by 2016: Full operations are expected to begin in
2016.
• Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Co. (Yasref),
a JV between Saudi Aramco (62.5%) and • Rabigh 2 is an expansion of the existing
Sinopec (37.5%), began export operations at PetroRabigh refining and petrochemicals
its 400-Mbpd Yanbu Industrial City refinery in complex, which produces 18 MMtpy of refined
January 2015. The refinery has been designed products and 2.4 MMtpy of petrochemical
to process heavy and medium crude oils and products. Phase 2 will add 15 MMtpy of refined
maximize gasoil (GO) and gasoline production. products and 5 MMtpy of petrochemicals, and
It includes process units for the separation is expected to begin operations in the first half
of 2016. Rabigh 2’s development will include
Facility Present capacity Planned capacity the expansion of PetroRabigh’s existing ethane
(Mbpd) (Mbpd) cracker, the construction of a new aromatics
complex and an expanded facility to process
Mina Abdullah 270 454 30 MMcfd of ethane and approximately 3
MMtpy of naphtha as feedstock. The total
Mina Al-Ahmadi 466 346 project investment is projected to reach
approximately $ 8.5 B (an increase from the
Shuaiba 200 - original $ 7 B) [4].
Al-Zour - 615 Kuwait
Total installed capacity 936 1,415 Despite its relative size (18 Mkm2), Kuwait has
the third largest refining capacity in the ME and
Table 1 - Kuwaiti refineries’ current capacities and future expansion plans consumes only a small portion of its total crude
production. The national oil company, Kuwait
National Petroleum Co. (Knpc), is investing more
the New Refinery Project (NRP) - to overhaul
the country’s refining sector and diversify its oil-
heavy economy. The country’s petroleum export
revenues account for nearly 60% of its GDP and
approximately 94% of export revenues, which were
estimated at $ 92 B in 2013, according to EIA data
[5].
Once completed, these ambitious modernization/
expansion projects will place the country as the
third-largest exporter of liquids among Opec
producers, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran, and as
one of the top 10 oil exporters worldwide [2].
Fig. 3 – Night view of the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery in Kuwait (Photo courtesy of Kuwait
National Petroleum Corp.)
Impiantistica Italiana - Luglio-Agosto 2015 29
