Saudi Arabia's Yanbu refinery reach full capacity

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, has restarted its Red Sea Yanbu refinery, which it owns with U.S. oil major ExxonMobil Corp. This comes after nearly two months of maintenance to bring a new clean-fuel project online. The plant is expected to reach its full capacity in mid-May.
The refinery, which is operated by Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Co., or SAMREF, has a capacity of about 400,000 barrels a day of Saudi Arabian crude oil, half of which is consumed domestically.
During maintenance, which started in March 2013, SAMREF boosted the reliability of the fluid catalytic cracker, which helps turn crude oil into gasoline, and upgraded the refinery to produce cleaner fuels. The clean-fuels project is expected to reduce sulfur levels by more than 98% in gasoline in 2013 and in diesel fuel by 2016.
SAMREF is the supplier of gasoline in the western region of the kingdom, according to the Saudi Aramco website.
Saudi Arabia is expanding its refining capacity to produce more gasoline and diesel fuel to meet rising domestic demand, plus having the ability to produce cleaner fuel gives them an advantage in the oil export market.
Saudi Aramco owns and operates four refineries serving the local market, with a combined refining capacity of one million barrels per day. The firm also has a 50% interest in SAMREF and in Saudi Aramco Total Refinery and Petrochemicals Co., a joint venture with France’s Total SA.
The cost of the project to reduce sulfur from diesel fuel and gasoline was estimated to cost US$2.5 billion.
(May 12, 2013)