Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh), a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co., has let a contract to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Dallas, to provide preliminary works for the operator’s proposed fuel oil upgrading—or bottom-of-the-barrel (BOTB)—project at its 400,000-b/d refinery and chemicals complex in the port city of Rabigh, Saudi Arabia, along the Red Sea.
Under the 2-year contract, Jacobs will conduct both preliminary front-end engineering design and FEED, as well as deliver project management consultancy services for the BOTB project, which will be designed to convert oil residue streams from the crude distillation process into more profitable products, the service provider said.
The project comes as part of Petro Rabigh’s plan to increase production of cleaner transportation fuels, primarily diesel and low-sulfur bunker fuel oil, to help meet growing demand within Saudi Arabia and abroad while simultaneously reducing the refinery’s output of residual fuel oil, Jacobs said.
Jacobs did not disclose a value of the combined contract.
Petro Rabigh previously has said the BOTB project will involve establishment of two main plants and other secondary installations to convert low-value fuel oil—which accounts for about 25% of refined products produced at the complex—into 75,000 b/d of diesel and other high-value products meeting international specifications, according to announcements issued by the operator on Feb. 27, 2019, and Sept. 2, 2018.
A timeframe for commissioning of the project has yet to be revealed.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
