Jiddah Refinery
Jiddah Refinery (JR), which started operations in 1967, (60 thousand barrels per day (MBD) nominal capacity, 100 MBD utilization capacity) has a 22 MBD vacuum column and a 20 MBD cat cracker, and a 3.0 MBD catalytic reformer.
Jiddah Refinery exchanges streams with adjacent Lube Oil Plant - Luberef (sends imported Reduce Crude and receives VGO, FO, and asphalt). It also provides services (Power, Fresh Water and Fire Water) to neighboring facilities (Luberef, Petrolube and SWCC pump station).
Jiddah Refinery handles 350 MBD of hydrocarbon products through its Marine Terminal (8 inner berths 40,000 DWT and 2 outer berths up to 100,000 DWT) and Product Handling Facilities (84 tanks with a total capacity of 8 million barrels). This can reach up to 450 MBD during the high seasons, Ramadan and Hajj periods.
This capability highlights the importance of the refinery function in safeguarding and providing critical supplies of fuel to the Makkah Area as well as to local consumers, such as the King Abdulaziz Airport, the Jiddah Islamic Seaport and Power Plants.
Through the Jiddah Refinery Terminal, crude and final products are imported, and petroleum products are exported. The majority of products are transferred to two local bulk plants, SWCC, SEC and the King Faisal Naval Base via pipelines. Refinery sales are LPG, unleaded gasoline, diesel, and asphalt. In addition, the refinery exports naphtha.
Ras Tanura Refinery
The most complex Saudi Aramco refinery is on the Arabian Gulf at Ras Tanura with a crude distillation capacity of 550,000 barrels per day (BPD). Ras Tanura Refinery also has a 305,000 BPD NGL processing facility, a 960,000 BPD crude stabilization facility, 145/158 MW (summer/winter) of combined steam and gas turbine electrical power generation plants, a combined 150 lb and 600 lb steam capacity of 6,217 Mlb/hr, and 75 crude oil and products storage tanks with a combined capacity of 5.8 million barrels.
Ras Tanura Refinery's major refining facilities include a 325,000 BPD Crude Distillation Unit, a 225,000 BPD Gas Condensate Distillation Unit, 50,000 BPD hydrocracker and a total of 107,000 BPD capacity of catalytic reforming. Ras Tanura Refinery is the only Saudi Aramco refinery that contains a Visbreaker (60,000 BPD). This refinery also produces 17,000 BPD of asphalt, more than any other refinery in the Kingdom. Crude is normally transferred to Ras Tanura through a pipeline and can also be supplied by ship. Most of Ras Tanura’s production is for domestic use and transferred to the Dhahran bulk plant, while some products are exported.
Riyadh Refinery
Riyadh Refinery (120,000 barrel per day (BPD) capacity) in the Central Region of Saudi Arabia is supplied with crude oil from the East-West pipeline. Riyadh Refinery, unlike Rabigh or Yanbu' Refineries, contains a vacuum column, which permits processing of the heavier crude fractions. Consequently the refinery contains a 30,000 BPD hydrocracker, for upgrading of heavy fraction. Riyadh Refinery also has a 30,000 BPD catalytic reformer for upgrading naphtha to gasoline blending products.
Yanbu' Refinery
The Yanbu' Refinery (YR) on the Red Sea was established in 1979 as part of the Petromin projects (ex-SAMAREC). The plant became operational in 1983. It produces LPG, gasoline, jet fuel, diesel oil, and fuel oil. The refinery was built on 165 hectares in the industrial park, and is a hydro-skimming facility with a design capacity of 170,000 barrels per day (BPD), mainly serving the domestic market.
In June 1993, by Royal Decree, Samarec operations were integrated into Saudi Aramco. YR currently operates at a crude processing rate of 225 MBD and is manned by approximately 700 employees; Saudi employees constitute approximately 85 percent of the total work force.
Arabian crude oil is received from the Yanbu' Crude Oil Terminal and stored in YR crude tanks. From the tanks, the crude is heated through exchangers and sent to the distillation column. There are 74 tanks in the tank farm with a capacity of 12 million barrels. The refinery products are distributed through truck loading, interconnecting pipelines and four marine terminal facilities.