Saudi Aramco to shut its largest oil refinery on June 1 for 5-6 weeks

Posted by Ankit khatkar on March 2nd, 2020

RAS TANURA: Saudi Aramco will shut its largest oil refinery for five to six weeks from June 1, the plant's general manager Fawwaz Nawwab told Reuters.

The 550,000 barrel-per-day (BPD) Ras Tanura refinery on the shores of the Gulf supplies over 1 / 4 of the kingdom's fuel supply.

The plant will pack up completely to attach new units and refit older units to supply cleaner fuels, Nawwab said in an interview on Sunday at the refinery.

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The company is undertaking a .4 billion overhaul of Ras Tanura to scale back the sulfur content of the gasoline and diesel the refinery produces.

Rows of wrapped equipment were laid out on the sand next to the crude refining units at the location because the plant prepares for the shutdown.

A new 200-meter high flare is under construction, towering over the refinery complex, which operations manager Abdullah Bagar said would be the most important within the world once completed.

The upgrade involves adding several new units including a 90,000 BPD continuous catalytic reforming unit, which Aramco describes because of the largest of its kind.

Once the reformer is running, Ras Tanura will no longer export naphtha, Nawwab said, because it will be upgraded to gasoline and consumed inside the kingdom. The clean fuel project will be completed next year, Nawwab said.

The plant exports around 40,000 BPD of naphtha, he added. That is typically sent to refiners in South Korea, and sometimes to Japan and Taiwan.

Last year, the bulk of Ras Tanura's naphtha cargoes went to Onsen, South Korea, where Saudi's refining subsidiary S-Oil Corp is located, Refinitiv data showed.

All gasoline produced after the upgrade at Ras Tanura would meet European Union specifications referred to as Euro 5, Nawwab said. The plant would be able to supply the fuel when higher specifications are adopted throughout the dominion, he added. The plant would also produce ultra-low sulfur diesel, he said.

Most of the gasoline and diesel produced at Ras Tanura is for local supply, although the plant can export if required and sits next to at least one of the most important crude export terminals in Saudi Arabia.

There are no plans to export more fuel at present from Ras Tanura, which meets all the fuel demand in the kingdom's Eastern Province.