(MENAFN - Arab News) A cutting-edge Saudi Aramco refinery and terminal mega project will form the backbone of the new economic city that will transform the fortunes of Jazan, company experts have been told.
The planned 400,000 barrels per day capacity semi-conversion refinery and terminal will be the flagship industrial complex in Jazan Economic City (JEC) and will target domestic and international energy demand.
The Jazan Refinery Development team coordinated a site visit for more than 50 Saudi Aramco representatives from all involved organizations to survey the project site and discuss the latest update on the progress of the refinery and economic city projects.
The team highlighted the added value of the project to Jazan area development and surrounding areas. It is anticipated that up to 5,000 direct and indirect local jobs will be created. In addition, there is substantial potential for job creation further down the product chain generated by investments in downstream secondary petrochemical market, using feedstock produced by the refinery.
After the survey of the site, the team visited the JEC headquarters, which houses a scale model of the proposed city. Members of the team also visited the local industrial training institution, known as CADRE, which will draw from a large pool of available manpower in the region.
The refinery and terminal will be part of the JEC. It will be one of the major planned economic hubs in the Kingdom over the next 20 years with a focus on major investments. The complex is strategically located on the Red Sea coast close to the new airport and the proposed rail link to Jeddah and connected to the region's main highway.
Once operational, the refinery will be capable of processing heavy and medium crudes to manufacture approximately 75,000 bpd of gasoline, 250,000 bpd of ultra-low-sulfur diesel, and 80,000 bpd of vacuum residual, which will be sent to an adjacent new power block.
In addition, products at Jazan will also include LPG, sulfur, asphalt, and more than one million tons per year of benzene and paraxylene.
Ongoing front end engineering design is anticipated to be completed by the third quarter this year to enable the refinery to startup by 2016.
