Aramco eyes expansion of lube refinery JV

Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Co. (Luberef) has invited Saudi-based companies to bid for the early engineering work to expand its Yanbu refinery, industry sources said. The Yanbu refinery has a capacity of 280,000 tons per year of lubricating base oil. The expansion includes a new lube hydrocracker, raising the capacity of the vacuum distillation unit (VDU), upgrading the electrical facilities and adding new storage tanks, a source familiar with the bidding process said. He declined to say what the capacity of the refinery would be after the upgrade. (February 3, 2010)