Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery 11% complete: Al-Falih

The Jazan refinery, which is being built by Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco), is 11 percent complete, the state-owned oil company’s chairman Khalid A. Al-Falih said during his visit to the project, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The Jazan refinery is part of a plan to develop an industrial city in Jazan in southwestern Saudi Arabia, which would also include a 4,000 MW power plant, a commercial port, and a refinery terminal.

The refinery is expected to begin operations in late 2017 while the whole project will be completed by August 2018, he added.

The refinery will have the capacity to process 400,000 barrels per day of heavy and medium Arabian crude to produce ultra-low sulfur gasoline and diesel as well as chemical gasoline and paraxylene.

The project is expected to support the future development of Jazan Economic City, which has a total area of 102 million square meters and is targeting heavy and petrochemical industries, power plants, metal industries, shipbuilding industries as well as mineral, agriculture and animal wealth investments.

Saudi Aramco is working on the city’s infrastructure according to a royal decree while the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY) will manage and operate the city.