ENOC lets contract for Jebel Ali refinery upgrade

March 27, 2014
Emirates National Oil Co. (ENOC) has let a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract to KBR for the upgrade of its 120,000-b/d condensate refinery at Jebel Ali in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai.

Emirates National Oil Co. (ENOC) has let a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract to KBR for the upgrade of its 120,000-b/d condensate refinery at Jebel Ali in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai.

The planned upgrade will add processing units that include jet and diesel hydrotreaters as well as an isomerization unit, KBR said.

Following the upgrade, the plant—which currently has two trains of condensate distillation units—will be able to produce several products meeting Euro 5 standards, including as high-octane gasoline, low-sulfur jet fuel, and ultralow-sulfur diesel, according to KBR.

A contract value was not disclosed, but KBR included expected revenue from the FEED project in its first-quarter backlog of unfilled orders for its hydrocarbons segment, the company said.

ENOC’s planned upgrade at the Jebel Ali plant follows a growing trend of refinery upgrades taking place across the Middle East designed to accommodate rising domestic fuel demand and increasingly stringent product specifications, according to KBR.