Technip to be lead contractor for Enoc in Jebel Ali refinery expansion

The development is a key part of the UAE’s downstream strategy to be self-sufficient in domestic fuels, as well as expanding the slate of products on offer for export.

Oil technicians climb down a giant tank at a refinery in Jebel Ali. Kamran Jebreili / AP Photo
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Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) said French engineering firm Technip will be the lead contractor for its US$1 billion expansion project at its Jebel Ali oil refinery.

The development is a key part of the UAE’s downstream strategy to be self-sufficient in domestic fuels, as well as expanding the slate of products on offer for export.

“Meeting the growing energy demand tops the government’s agenda,” said Enoc’s vice chairman, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer. “This ambitious expansion project is one of the key building blocks in the energy infrastructure sector to meet future demands.”

The main element of the three-part package, which is to grow the refinery’s capacity by 50 per cent, is a new condensate processing train, raising daily crude oil processing capacity to 210,000 barrels per day, from a current 140,000 bpd.

Other new units include a liquefied petroleum gas/naphtha hydrotreater, an isomerisation unit, a kerosene hydrotreater and a diesel hydrotreater will help to produce petrol, jet fuel and diesel to meet domestic demand and fuel emissions standards for markets that include Europe.

Technip Italy, a unit of the company based in Rome, will be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor handling all aspects of the design and construction of the main processing unit.

Enoc is still evaluating bids for the other two elements of the project, which will include building storage tanks and a 31,000 square feet warehouse.

The project bidding phase has dragged on as prices have fallen amid industry deflation that has accompanied a worldwide oil and oil products glut.

Refinery capacity has been expanding in the region to meet rapidly growing fuel demand, which in the UAE has been rising at a rate of about 9 per cent a year.

Last year, the Ruwais refinery in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region brought onstream units to double capacity to 900,000 bpd.

The Jebel Ali plant was originally commissioned in 1999 – with Technip also the main contractor – and capacity was last increased in 2010, when an $850 million investment lifted capacity to 120,000 bpd from 70,000 bpd.

Enoc said last month it was also expanding its petrol stations both in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, partly to meet the Dubai 2021 development goals and expected growth from Expo 2020.

Enoc plans 54 new retail outlets over the next four years and is refurbishing its existing 112 outlets.

The company also won a bid to build 27 service stations on link roads between the major cities in Saudi Arabia.

amcauley@thenational.ae

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