Saudi lube-oil JV awards expansion contract

Feb. 14, 2013
Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Co. (Luberef) has contracted with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. to provide project management consulting for an expansion at Luberef’s lube oil refinery in Yanbu.

Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Co. (Luberef) has contracted with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. to provide project management consulting for an expansion at Luberef’s lube oil refinery in Yanbu.

Overall expansion cost, according to Jacobs, will be about $1 billion.

Under the agreement, Jacobs is providing PMC services for both inside battery limits (ISBL) and outside battery limits (OSBL). The ISBL services include a new lube-oil unit, a new sulfur complex, a new hydrogen manufacturing unit, and an expansion of the propane deasphalting unit. The OSBL services involve all utilities, tanks, and infrastructure.

The Yanbu Refinery expansion will increase base oil production of high-quality GR-II and GR-III base oils; increase GR-I Bright stock to almost double current production; produce higher-value byproducts—naphtha, diesel, and kerosine; and satisfy Saudi Arabia’s requirements for drilling fluid, currently being imported.

Luberef is a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Jadwa Industrial Investment.