The announcement was made at a press conference held today in Dubai. Present at the press conference were Hussain Sultan, Group Chief Executive and Board Member, ENOC, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Khalfan bin Khirbash, UAE Minister of State for Finance and Industry and Chairman of Dubai Islamic Bank and Steve Davies, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Foster Wheeler Energy Limited.
Speaking at the press conference, Hussain Sultan, ENOC, said:
"As a leading petroleum player in the UAE we are proud to announce the upgrade of our Jebel Ali refinery. This expansion further demonstrates both our leadership position and commitment to being the reliable and responsible energy partner of choice."
The US$ 500 million upgrade project will see the installation of 70,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD) liquefied petroleum gas/naphtha hydrotreater and a 36,000 BPSD crude catalytic reformer and ancillary processing units.
In addition, associated facilities such as sulphur recovery, tail gas treatment units and power/steam generation will be installed. On commissioning, the refinery is set to produce approximately 1.2mmt/yr of high octane reformate, the major component in gasoline.
Dr. Khirbash, said: "Dubai Islamic Bank is proud to be part of this prestigious event and to have participated in the upgrade and expansion of ENOC's Jebel Ali Refinery. ENOC's decision to opt for Sukuk Al-Ijarah reflects the growing importance of Islamic funding in the marketplace. Capital raising in the energy sector is perhaps the most critical element of any long term planning cycle, and on behalf of Dubai Islamic Bank I would like to place on the record our delight that ENOC has found an Islamic solution to be not just comparable but superior to conventional capital-raising methods."
The new facilities will allow EPCL to upgrade its existing naphtha product to a low-sulphur petrochemical naphtha product stream and to provide a 102 Research Octane Number (RON) reformate product stream, as well as operate the plant at full capacity using sour condensates. An additional by-product will be sulphur. Mechanical completion of EPCL's Jebel Ali refinery is planned for the end of 2007.
Commenting on the contract, Steve Davies, UK-headquartered Foster Wheeler Energy Limited said: "We have been working with EPCL on this upgrade project for some time and have developed a strong working relationship with EPCL during the front-end engineering design phase when we examined the upgrade options, defined the optimum configuration and developed the cost estimate. With this award for the EPC phase of the project, we are uniquely positioned to combine our refining expertise and our detailed knowledge of the existing facility and planned upgrade, together with our proven EPC capability, to deliver a world-class facility for our client."
EPCL was established as the refining arm of ENOC in June 1996. The refinery with a processing capacity of 120,000 bpsd went on stream in April 1999. The products of the refinery are LPG, Naphtha, Jet fuel, Diesel oil and Fuel oil. Since inception, the refinery has been operating efficiently meeting international standards on productivity, quality, safety, and environmental aspects.
Browse
related articles
Posted by Anne-Birte Stensgaard, Senior News Editor
