Saudi Aramco to award expansion contract

A spokesman from Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Co (Luberef) said the company will award a contract to double the capacity of a lubricants refinery in Yanbu. Target date for commissioning the project is set for the second half of 2015. Bidders for the US$1 billion project include South Korea’s Samsung Engineering and Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Italy’s Saipem and Spain’s Tecnicas Reunites.
Saudi Aramco owns 70% of Luberef and the remaining 30% is owned by Saudi Jadwa Industrial Investment. The company currently produces around 550,000 tons per year (tpy) of base oil at its two refineries on the kingdom’s Red Sea coast at Jeddah and Yanbu. The expansion project will double the capacity of the Yanbu refinery from the current 280,000. It will also enable the refinery to produce high quality base oil. (October 3, 2012)