Making history for Jazan region

The completion of Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery and terminal mega-project will herald the beginning of a historic new economic era for both the region and the Kingdom, president and CEO Amin Nasser said during a visit last week.

The company’s corporate management joined Nasser on a site visit to receive the latest update on progress at the Jazan Economic City (JEC) and refinery and terminal mega-projects. They also met with HRH Prince Mohammed ibn Nasser ibn Abd’ Al-’Aziz Al-Sa’ud, governor of the Jazan Region.

Commissioning activities for the complex will commence by mid-2018, and full operation will be achieved by 2019.

Industrial springboard

Saudi Aramco’s projects in Jazan are designed to enable an industrial springboard to achieve the vision of a diversified economy under the framework of the Kingdom’s strategic Vision 2030 economic road map.

The 106-square-kilometer JEC will host the refinery complex as its anchor tenant and is viewed as pivotal to delivering much-needed economic transformation in the Jazan region and, at the same time, attract foreign investment.

At the Jazan Project Management office, corporate management received a comprehensive progress update by Khalid S. Al-Gazlan, manager of the Jazan Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Projects Department. Nasser and the corporate management team had an opportunity to discuss the project and underlined their continued support for the work of the Jazan project management team.

Operational readiness

Abdullah A. Al-Deraibi, manager of the Jazan Refinery Operations Department, provided an update on the operational readiness of the Jazan Refinery Complex, while director Abdulatif S. Abdulhadi gave an update on the progress of the JEC.

Nasser paid tribute to the efforts of the Jazan management team for addressing and overcoming several challenges as the program accelerates toward completion.

“Jazan is a major project, considering the size of other facilities that we have built, and we have good teams working here to deliver the project successfully.”

Nasser cited the company’s track record in project management, highlighting the Wasit Gas Plant and the facilities of Shaybah in the depths of the Rub’ al-Khali (Empty Quarter).

We are creating history, and five years from now, we will see a different Jazan.

Amin Nasser, President and CEO

Shared effort

“It’s a shared effort,” Nasser said. “We are in this together; we need to continue to move ahead as we are in the midst of creating a new and thriving era in Jazan. We are creating history, and five years from now, we will see a different Jazan.”

He expressed his appreciation to company employees for their sacrifices. “You are making a difference in an area which is getting transformed into a hub for economic and trading activities aligned with the Kingdom’s broad objective to generate growth and development and Saudi Aramco’s value-creation efforts across its business operations,” he said.

The corporate management delegation also toured the under-construction port, where massive dredgers could be seen at work and were briefed on the progress of a wide range of complex engineering and construction packages that will be integrated to reach the processing capacity of more than 400,000 bpd of crude oil — providing fuel for domestic and international customers.

The complex will be entirely self-sufficient and provide power to locally owned manufacturing and service companies.