Takreer Awards Carbon Black/Coker Plant As Ruwais Expansion Takes Shape

Takreer Awards Carbon Black/Coker Plant As Ruwais Expansion Takes Shape

By David Knott

Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract agreement on 31 October with South Korea�s Samsung Engineering for a carbon black and delayed coker (CBDC) project in Ruwais. State news agency WAM reported that the signing ceremony was attended by Sultan al-Mehairi, director of marketing and refining at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and South Korean ambassador Kwon Tae Kyun, as well as senior officials from Takreer and Samsung. The formal signing follows Samsung�s receipt of a letter of award for the project in June.

Samsung announced on 22 June that the contract was valued at $2.48bn and that the CBDC plant would be built in the refining complex at Ruwais with a capacity of 40,000 tons/year of carbon black and 30,000 b/d of crude oil. Completion is scheduled for December 2015. The WAM report said the project aims at transferring the overall heavy oil output from Takreer�s current refineries and a refinery expansion currently under construction at Ruwais into light petroleum derivates in addition to carbon black. The latter is used by Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) in pipelines and cables, as well as anode quality coke for use by local aluminum smelters.

Takreerwas established in 1999 to take over the responsibility for ADNOC�s refining operations. It currently operates two refineries: Abu Dhabi refinery, which centers around an 85,000 b/d crude distillation unit (CDU); and Ruwais refinery, which incorporates a 120,000 b/d CDU and two 140,000 b/d condensate splitters. Near to the Ruwais refinery, the Ruwais Refinery Expansion Plant is being built, and adjacent to that, the CBDC plant. The expansion plant will have the capacity to process 417,000 b/d of ADNOC�s Murban crude. Construction is under way with a view to completion in February 2014.

Takreersays the objective of the CBDC plant is to add value by upgrading bunker fuel and propane. This will involve converting vacuum residue to anode coke, residual fuel catalytic cracking (RFCC) slurry to carbon black, and propane to propylene. Propylene output capacity is expected to be 1.2mn t/y, which Takreer is expected to supply to the Borouge Olefins complex in Ruwais for polypropylene production.

The Ruwais Expansion plant will comprise 21 process units and 20 supporting offsite and utilities units. The RFCC unit at the heart of the plant will be one of the largest in the world, with capacity of 127,000 b/d. The expansion is primarily intended to help meet rising domestic demand for cleaner gasoline and jet fuel, while offering the opportunity of exporting products to Asia. Takreer awarded EPC contracts worth a combined $9.6bn to Korean companies for the Ruwais Expansion in March 2010. SK Engineering and Construction is building the CDU and associated downstream units; GS Engineering and Construction is building the RFCC and associated refining units and marine facilities; Samsung Engineering is handling offsites and utilities; and Daewoo Engineering and Construction is building tankage and pipelines.

Meanwhile, 6mn tons/year of naphtha from the existing Ruwais refinery has been earmarked to supply the planned Tacaamol Aromatics project, which is to be built close to the Ruwais refinery complex by Abu Dhabi National Chemicals Company (Chemaweyaat). This $10bn plant will have the capacity to produce 7mn t/y of olefins, polyolefins and aromatics and is due on-stream in 2016. The naphtha will be delivered by pipeline. Chemaweyaat is expected to invite bids for the front end engineering design (FEED) for the Tacaamol plant by year-end.

TakreerRefineries

Plant	Processing Capacity	Start-Up	Main Products
Abu Dhabi	85,000 b/d crude	1976	LPG, naphtha, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, gasoil, straight run residue, liquid sulfur
Ruwais	120,000 b/d crude	1982	LPG, naphtha, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, gasoil, straight run residue, bunker fuels, granulated sulfur
	280,000 b/d condensate
Ruwais Expansion	417,000 b/d crude	2014	LPG, propylene, naphtha, gasoline, jet fuel, gasoil, fuel oil

Source:Takreer.

Copyright MEES 2012.