Saudi Aramco is building a new refinery at Yanbu' Industrial City, which is located on the kingdom's Red Sea coast in Al Madinah province. Red Sea Refining Co., a subsidiary of the national oil company, will execute and operate the project.

The estimated $10 billion Yanbu' refinery will process 400,000 barrels per day (b/d) of Arabian Heavy crude oil and produce 90,000 b/d of gasoline, 263,000 b/d of ultra-low-sulfur diesel, 6,300 metric tons per day (mtd) of coke, and 1,200 mtd of sulfur. It will use existing Saudi Aramco facilities to receive crude oil and export refined products.

KBR performed front-end engineering design (FEED) for the project. As an extension of its project management contract, KBR also is providing detailed engineering and procurement services for the utilities package and interconnecting systems and pipe racks. Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts awarded to other vendors include:

• Site preparation: Abdulrahman Al-Shalawi Establishment
• Coker package: Tecnicas Reunidas
• High-voltage electrical package: Saudi Services
• Crude package: SK Engineering and Construction Co.
• Offsite pipeline package: Dayim Punj Lloyd
• Gasoline and hydrocracker packages: Daelim
• Onsite pipeline relocation package: Rajeh H. Al-Marri
• Tank farm package: ENPPI

Saudi Aramco also has awarded Flowserve Corp. a corporate procurement agreement (CPA) to supply pumps, valves, and services for the project. In addition, Air Liquide Arabia and Saudi Aramco have signed a long-term hydrogen supply agreement that calls for Air Liquide to build two global-scale hydrogen production units. The units, which will be built by the Lurgi division of Air Liquide Engineering, will boast a total hydrogen production capacity of 262 million standard cubic feet per day.

Some 70% of the project's total value will be spent within Saudi Arabia, and it will deliver a number of firsts for the kingdom in terms of detailed engineering, human resources, and domestic equipment and material manufacturers, according to Saudi Aramco. The kingdom is trying to spur economic growth by creating career opportunities for young Saudis, encouraging technology transfer into the country, and maximizing local content in the project's goods and services, the company also stated.

The project's projected completion date is 2014.