Satorp lets contract for Jubail refinery

Saudi Aramco Total Refinery & Petrochemicals Co. (Satorp) has let a contract to KBR Inc. for a debottlenecking project at its 440,000 b/d full-conversion refinery complex at Jubail on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast.

Alongside subcontractor Wison Engineering Services Co. Ltd., KBR will deliver debottlenecking services at Train 2 of the refinery in a project that, once completed, is anticipated to increase the refinery’s original throughput capacity by 15%, the service provider said.

The debottlenecking project is scheduled to be executed during an upcoming major refinery turnaround in 2020, with completion targeted for August 2020, KBR said.

KBR disclosed no further details regarding the project or a value of the contract.

Jubail petrochemical project

This latest contract follows Saudi Aramco and Total SA’s October 2018 agreement to launch front-end engineering design for their previously announced proposal to add an integrated petrochemical complex downstream of their jointly held Satorp refinery (OGJ Online, Oct. 8, 2018).

To be located next to and receive feedstock from the Jubail refinery in the same industrial area, the new complex will include a mixed-feed steam cracker—50% ethane and refinery off gas—with a capacity to produce 1.5 million tonnes/year of ethylene and related petrochemical units designed to yield an overall production of more than 2.7 million tpy of high-quality chemical products.

Alongside an Aramco-Total investment of about $5 billion, the project’s cracker will feed other petrochemical and specialty chemical plants that represent an additional $4 billion investment by third party investors for an overall project value of about $9 billion, the companies said upon announcing the project in April 2018.

Scheduled for startup in 2024, the proposed petrochemical complex comes as part of broader strategies by both Total and Aramco to diversify, expand, and integrate their downstream business units.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].