By Mahmoud SulaimanAbu Dhabi, Feb 25th, 2008 (WAM): Saudi Arabia's oil company ARAMCO is expanding its refining capacity by 400,000 bpd to mainly meet the increasing domestic demand on gasoline and other oil products, Mahdi Fida Al Adel, Senior Manufacturing and PlanningAl Adel said the planned expansion of Saudi Arabia's biggest refinerywill push its current refining capacity up to 950000 bpd.
The Middle East refining conference -9th Annual Meeting, which started today in Abu Dhabi brought together top industry officials and experts form all over the world. The expansion of Ras Tanura Refinery which is expected to be completedby the end of 2013 and early 2014 is meant to meet the demands of thedomestic Kingdom's market on gasoline and has no effect on the oilmarket in the Middle East or other parts of the world. "Any abundant refining output, if any, will be exported (to theglobal market)," he clarified. The Aramco official said he did not have a clear number of the totalcost of the said expansion. The petrochemical expansion Kingdom wide, however, is estimated at USD22 billions, he noted. "I don't have numbers. I am a proponent on the refinery so I am notdirectly involved in looking at the commercial or technical issues... but I am assuming things are progressing", he stated. The estimated cost of USD 23 billions for the RTR expansion is anexaggerated number, he explained. ARAMCO's driver for the expansion, he added, is to providesufficient gasoline supplies for domestic consumption. Al Adel unveiled that other expansions of Saudi refineries areunderway in the Western and Eastern Regions of the Kingdom. In Saudi's Western Region, Total and ARAMCO are also working on ajoint venture basis to add 400000 bpd of refining capacity. ARAMCO's other refining projects include expansions at Rabegh in the East.Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2008.
