Luberefs Yanbual Bahr, Saudi Arabia, refinery expansion – which will add 700,000 metric tons per year of API Group II base oil and increased bright stock production – is scheduled for completion in early 2016, with production commencing in 2016s second quarter, a company official told Lube Report.
Abdulwasea Bokhary, Luberefs manager for corporate planning, said the Yanbu expansion announced in 2012 includes a new Group II plant and a revamp of some existing Group I production facilities to increase bright stock production. When it first announced the project, Luberef said it would bring total bright stock output at Yanbu from 84,000 t/y up to 175,000 t/y. Bokhary noted that the product slate and production quantities have not changed since then.
Luberef currently operates two Group I plants on Saudi Arabias Red Sea coast, in Jeddah and Yanbu, with combined capacity of almost 560,000 t/y.
A June 22 Reuters report, quoting unnamed sources, said Saudi Aramco was considering whether to close its 90,000 barrel per day crude oil refinery in Jeddah – which provides feedstock for Luberef – in several years because of age and environmental concerns.
Given the potential closure of the Saudi Aramco Jeddah fuels refinery, Luberef is undertaking early stage planning, so that it is prepared and ready to continue the supply of Group I base oil from Luberef s Yanbu plant, if and when the Saudi Aramco Jeddah refinery closes, Bokhary told Lube Report.
Luberef, headquartered in Jeddah, is a 70-30 joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Jadwa Industrial Investment Co.