KHOBAR - Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell plan to upgrade their joint venture refinery and add new units to meet environmental standards, a company source said on Tuesday. “We are in the process of embarking on this to clean exhaust gases from sulfur,” the source told Reuters. “This step is to protect the environment,” he added. The 305,000 barrels per day (bpd) Sasref refinery will upgrade its Super Claus units, build a new off-gas treating unit, a sour water stripper and other support utilities, he said. Many refiners use Claus plants to meet gas emission standards by removing sulfur dioxide from air emissions. Super Claus units will typically enhance the process. Sasref is in Jubail, an industrial hub on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. The refinery is on schedule to operate an ultra low sulfur diesel unit in October, he said. The unit is expected to produce about 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of ultra-low-sulfur diesel, making the refinery the kingdom's first producer that complies with new environmental standards, Aramco said in a statement last month. Three Saudi-based contractors said that Sasref invited them to bid for the project earlier this month. The due date to submit the bids is Oct 9, two contractors said adding that Sasref has set a budget of around $100 million for the project. The award may be by the end of the year or early next year, they said. The source said his company is in the process of bidding, technical and commercial evaluations.
