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The significance of the refinery project can be seen from many
aspects such as:
»In-Kingdom
processing of crude oil which enables Saudi Arabia to export
finished products and not only crude oil, which means an important
transition in the methods of best utilization of our oil wealth.
»Availability
of oil energy in the Western province will provide a positive, quick
and constructive contribution for the development of a new large
industrial city which is added to other industrial areas in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
»Adding
new source of income through exportation of finished products to
international markets.
»Offering
new opportunities for Saudis to participate in the industrialization
programs and providing them with training and career development
programs, to qualify them to undertake the leadership management of
their country’s projects.
REFINERY UNITS
The crude refining process is being carried out at several stages in
the following refinery units:
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Crude Unit
»
Vacuum Unit
»
Visbreaker
»
Isomerization Unit
»
Fluid Catalytic Cracking
»
Naphtha Hydrotreater
»
Continuous Reformer
»
Catalytic Hydrodesulfurisation
»
Amine, Sulfur Recovery and Prilling Unit
»
Alkylation Unit
»
Saturate and Unsaturate Gas Plants
»
MTBE Unit
»
Hydrisom Unit
The yield of gasoline and distillate products exceeds 80% per barrel
which is higher than the normal rates in similar refineries. It is
believed that SAMREF is the most sophisticated grassroots refinery
ever built. Its processing flexibility enables the refinery to alter
its productmix to meet seasonal demands, and more importantly, long
term shifts in demand pattern. Some processing units are under study
to further enhance the refinery’s capability to produce even more
premium quality products.
The refinery features single train processing and residual upgrading
capabilities. Principal process facilities include reforming and
isomerization for gasoline octane improvement, fluid catalytic
cracking for gas oil conversion, alkylation and MTBE units LPG
upgrading for gasoline production and visbreaking for improving
fluidity of heavy fuel oil.
The MTBE unit has special signification because it will not only
allow Samref to operate even more efficiently with the additional
production of high quality products, but it will also permit Samref
to make oxygenated gasoline’s, a cleaner burning motor vehicle fuel.
The Samref oxygenated gasoline will be the first gasoline of this
kind to be produced by a refinery Saudi Arabia.
PRODUCTION & STOREAGE CAPACITY
The refinery started with processing 263,000 barrels per day of Arab
Light Crude, but through a continuous improvement of its facilities,
it now processes more than 400,000 barrels per day. Storage capacity
totals 13.2 million barrels, which is relatively low because of the
extensive use of in-line blending of products to ships.
The percentage of the refinery yields is as follows:
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Gasoline 35%
»
Jet Fuel 15%
»
Heating Oil and Diesel Fuel 30%
»
Marine and other Fuel Oil 17%
»
LPG and other 3%
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