15 November 2012
JEDDAH/BERLIN - Saudi Aramco is looking to expand into the worldwide aromatic oil market in the coming years, ICIS news reported Wednesday, citing the company's global business manager for aromatics.
Aromatics fuel oil blending component products are mixtures of (mainly unsaturated) C9 to C15 components. They originate from the high temperature cracking of petroleum fractions and are separated out of pyrolysis gasoline (pygas) by distillation during the production of benzene.
Aromatic oil can be blended into bunker fuel or fluxant. Aromatic oil may also be used as a source for naphthalene or mixtures of naphthalene and methylnaphthalene for concrete plasticizers, phthalic anhydride and insecticides.
Speaking on the first day of the two-day 11th European Aromatics & Derivatives Conference in Berlin, Ted Randall said the key drivers behind this were motive, opportunity and means.
While 30 percent of global oil supply comes from the Middle East, gasoline currently moves in the opposite direction, with the region importing approximately 245,000 bbl/day. Randall explained that with a mandate to improve the purity of gasoline via BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene) extraction, this provides Saudi Aramco with the motive to delve into the market.The company will primarily be focused on paraxylene (PX), Randall said, citing growth rates of 2 million tons per annum, largely from Asia. The Middle East currently supplies 60 percent of the global PX demand, and Saudi Aramco will be looking to grow its annual PX capacity to 4 million tons by 2018. Similarly, the company sees opportunity in the global benzene market, which is currently struggling with structural tightness, and expects to have a capacity of 1 million tons by 2018.
It was more economical to export benzene from the east coast of Saudi Arabia up through the Suez canal and into the Mediterranean than it was to ship it around the peninsula to the west coast of the country for derivative production, owing to pirates operating in the Horn of Africa region and high freight costs. The means for this ramped up aromatics output comes from strategic location and feedstock reliability, Randall said.
JEDDAH/BERLIN - Saudi Aramco is looking to expand into the worldwide aromatic oil market in the coming years, ICIS news reported Wednesday, citing the company's global business manager for aromatics.
Aromatics fuel oil blending component products are mixtures of (mainly unsaturated) C9 to C15 components. They originate from the high temperature cracking of petroleum fractions and are separated out of pyrolysis gasoline (pygas) by distillation during the production of benzene.
Aromatic oil can be blended into bunker fuel or fluxant. Aromatic oil may also be used as a source for naphthalene or mixtures of naphthalene and methylnaphthalene for concrete plasticizers, phthalic anhydride and insecticides.
Speaking on the first day of the two-day 11th European Aromatics & Derivatives Conference in Berlin, Ted Randall said the key drivers behind this were motive, opportunity and means.
While 30 percent of global oil supply comes from the Middle East, gasoline currently moves in the opposite direction, with the region importing approximately 245,000 bbl/day. Randall explained that with a mandate to improve the purity of gasoline via BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene) extraction, this provides Saudi Aramco with the motive to delve into the market.The company will primarily be focused on paraxylene (PX), Randall said, citing growth rates of 2 million tons per annum, largely from Asia. The Middle East currently supplies 60 percent of the global PX demand, and Saudi Aramco will be looking to grow its annual PX capacity to 4 million tons by 2018. Similarly, the company sees opportunity in the global benzene market, which is currently struggling with structural tightness, and expects to have a capacity of 1 million tons by 2018.
It was more economical to export benzene from the east coast of Saudi Arabia up through the Suez canal and into the Mediterranean than it was to ship it around the peninsula to the west coast of the country for derivative production, owing to pirates operating in the Horn of Africa region and high freight costs. The means for this ramped up aromatics output comes from strategic location and feedstock reliability, Randall said.
© The Saudi Gazette 2012
