Saudi Aramco to begin production of clean fuels by 2016

Saudi Aramco will begin production of cleaner fuels and aromatics at its largest crude oil refinery in Ras Tanura by 2016, which will in turn help supply the company’s new petrochemicals joint venture with Dow Chemical. “The project will additionally add value to our downstream portfolio to produce cleaner fuels and also increase production of paraxylene, benzene and toluene,” said Abdulaziz al-Judaimi, vice president of chemicals at Aramco. The project will have an annual production capacity of 1 million metric tons of aromatics. Within a decade, Aramco wants to increase its refining capacity to 8 million barrels per day (bpd) and maximize revenues from oil. The integration between refineries and petrochemicals is expected to boost profitability. Saudi Aramco is currently building three new refineries in Saudi Arabia: one with France’s Total, in the east; another one with China’s Sinopec near the Red Sea city of Yanbu; and one at Jizan, near the border with Yemen. All three refineries are expected to produce cleaner fuels and some petrochemicals. (May 24, 2012)