Page 6 - DMEA Week 09 2023
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DMEA COMPANIES DMEA
Luberef signs deal
for Yanbu expansion
SAUDI ARABIA SAUDI Aramco Base Oil Co. (Luberef) has expansion of the Yanbu facility, Luberef’s pro-
announced the signing of an engineering pro- duction more than doubled across its two facil-
curement and construction (EPC) contract with ities from 550,000 tpy to 1.2mn tpy. The Group
Egypt’s Petrojet for the expansion of its Yanbu II base oils facility at Yanbu is by far Luberef’s
facility. largest, with a capacity of 710,000 tpy.
The EPC is part of Luberef’s Growth II project The plant is home to a hydrocracker and
which aims to expand the Yanbu facility’s base oil units for wax isomerisation, hydrogen recovery,
production capacity to around 1.3mn tonnes per sulphur recovery and gas treatment, as well as a
year (tpy) by 2025, allowing it to produce more 40,000 barrel per day vacuum distillation unit
Group II and Group III base oils to meet growing (VDU) and a 12,500 bpd propane de-asphalting
market demand. unit.
Tareq Al-Nuaim, president and CEO of Luberef was formed in 1976 as a 70:30 JV
Luberef, said: “We are proud of this agreement between Aramco and US super-major Exxon-
as it allows us to strengthen our production capa- Mobil, before the US giant sold its 30% stake to
bilities and grow in cohesion with shifts in the Jadwa Industrial Investment Co. in 2007.
base oil industry.” He added: “Globally, Group III Jadwa sold its share in the company in
base oil prices have maintained a steep premium December 2022 when the company was listed
in comparison to Group I and Group II prices on the local Tadawul All Share Index (TASI),
over the past year in response to steady supply the Riyadh stock exchange, raising $1.32bn.
and rising demand. Through this project, we Last week, Luberef reported profits of SAR2bn
are proud to enhance our Yanbu facility, process ($530mn) after tax in 2022, prompting its board
more products and support the Kingdom’s eco- of directors to suggest a 50% cash dividend or
nomic growth as a result.” SAR5 ($1.33) per share corresponding to the sec-
Following the 2018 commissioning of a $1bn ond half of that year.
P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 09 03•March•2023
