Petro Rabigh’s reliability test ‘key phase’ in refinery complex development: CEO

Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co.’s (Petro Rabigh) reliability test of the second phase of its mega downstream complex is considered a key phase in the project, CNBC Arabia reported, citing CEO and President, Nasser Al-Mahasher.

“The reliability test will enable the operations integration between Phases I and II, and it is further one of the most important criteria pertaining to the petrochemicals industry,” Al-Mahasher said.

“The test validates the company can produce high-quality products consistently, in line with the applied standards, and without suspension of operations,” he added.

He noted that this test proves Petro Rabigh is capable of fulfilling targets through available resources.

Petro Rabigh has successfully passed the reliability test of Phase II of its mega complex project, which began on August 1 until October 30, 2019, with an average preliminary production capacity of 99 percent.

Petro Rabigh is a joint venture (JV) between Saudi Aramco and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical, with both firms holding 37.5 percent shares each and the remaining trading on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The Petro Rabigh refinery complex in Rabigh is a topping refinery and consists of a 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude distillation unit, a 47,000 bpd hydrotreater, a 12 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) hydrogen plant, a 75,000 bpd naphtha merox unit and a 60,000 bpd kerosene merox unit along with supporting utilities, product tankage and a marine terminal.

The Phase II expansion will add 15 chemical plants to the Petro Rabigh complex, which will help the firm process an additional 30 million cubic feet a year (cf/y) of ethane and 3 million tonnes a year (t/y) of naphtha.