Yasref refinery reaches milestone

Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Co. Ltd. (Yasref), a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), has reached a new milestone. A world-class, full-conversion refinery that covers about 5.2 million square meters in the Yanbu Industrial City, the refinery processing crude oil at full capacity of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) on 22 June 2015.

The refinery began commercial operations on 1 April and in mid-May reached full capacity processing Arabian light crude, before switching to Arabian heavy crude and reaching full capacity.

Products produced at the refinery include 90,000 bpd of gasoline, 263,000 bpd of ultra-low sulphur diesel fuel, 6,200 metric tons per day (mtpd) of petroleum coke, 1,200 mtpd of sulpur, and 140,000 tons per year of benzene.

Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in upgrading and building new refineries to maximise value. It has traditionally been the world’s largest exporter of crude oil. Saudi Aramco now owns or has equity stakes in refining, totaling 5.4 million bpd, which is up 40% from a decade ago.