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Saudi Aramco's Mega Projects

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Author: Saudi Aramco Press Release
Released 19 June 2008

Saudi Aramco pursues a pair of intertwined objectives: to be the world’s most reliable supplier of energy and to continue to strengthen and diversify the local economy. In pursuit of these objectives, Saudi Aramco has embarked on a series of “mega projects.” These projects range from expanding crude-oil and natural gas production capacity to new refining, petrochemical and marketing ventures.

Saudi Aramco's “mega projects” range from expanding crude-oil and natural gas production capacity to new refining, petrochemical and marketing ventures.

Of the five mega projects Saudi Aramco has executed in the last 10 years, two were recipients of the Project Management Institute’s prestigious Project of the Year award, and one was honored at the 2005 International Petroleum Technology Conference.

A key factor in the company’s success with mega projects has been the broad cooperation of corporate Project Management personnel with internal stakeholders and contractors to deliver these projects. The cooperative spirit means that integrated teams resolve technical issues swiftly, optimize scope, streamline design reviews and achieve full control of the quality and schedule.

Another major contributor to the success of these projects has been the use of “Best Practices” — in value engineering, planning for startup, benchmarking, scope definition and control, and the formal use of lessons learned — to promote excellence.

Saudi Aramco has a 70-year history of successful project execution. In 1977, Aramco started managing its projects with a dedicated internal organization. The first mega project was a very large gas collection and distribution program — known as the Master Gas System — designed to provide Saudi Arabia with natural gas as a commercial resource.

Since 1998, Saudi Aramco has completed five mega projects. The Ras Tanura Refinery Upgrade Project pioneered the way for mega projects, and the lessons learned from that project have been applied to subsequent projects, resulting in the other four being completed below budget and on or ahead of aggressive schedules. With the rising demand for oil, Saudi Aramco has significantly increased its capital program, and today has six active corporate mega projects and three joint-venture mega projects in various stages.

Among them are Hawiyah, Khursaniyah, Khurais, Shaybah and Manifa — which by 2011 will increase oil production capacity by 2.85 million barrels per day (bpd), sales gas by 1.4 billion cubic feet per day (cfd), ethane production by 450 million cfd, and condensate by 325,000 bpd.

Mega Projects Overview

Mega projects in Saudi Aramco are generally defined as projects or programs exceeding $1 billion in value. The projects listed here are the company’s largest to-date:

Ras Tanura Refinery Upgrade Project (1991–1998)
The RTR Upgrade Project changed the refinery configuration from a 300,000-bpd topping plant to a full conversion refinery including a hydrocracker, a visbreaker, a naphtha hydrotreater and atmospheric catalytic conversion reformer (the largest in the world at the time). Utility upgrades included a hydrogen plant, new steam system and water disposal.

Since its beginning more than 60 years ago, Ras Tanura Refinery, seen here, has grown into one of the most complex in the world, with a distillation capacity of 550,000 bpd of crude oil and gas condensates, and consists of an NGL plant, crude stabilization, water desalination, electrical power and steam generating facilities. Ras Tanura Refinery produces about 40 percent of the Kingdom’s fuels, primarily gasoline, kerosene, diesel and fuel oil. On May 12, 2007, Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical Co. signed a Memorandum of Understanding to study the construction, ownership and operation of a world-scale chemicals and plastics production complex, the Ras Tanura Integrated Project.

Shaybah Field Development (1995–1998)
The Shaybah Field facilities were designed to process 500,000 bpd of Arabian Extra Light crude from the Shaybah field, deep in the Rub‘ al-Khali (Empty Quarter) desert. The oil is transported from the field to Abqaiq Plants in a 398-mile (640 km) pipeline constructed as part of the development. Because of the field’s remoteness, water and gas are reinjected into the reservoir to maintain pressure. The entire field had to be self-sufficient, so the scope included cogeneration, a Boeing 737-capable airport, residential and industrial facilities, and a 248-mile (400 km) road through the desert.

Hawiyah Gas Plant (1997–2001)
The Hawiyah Gas Plant provided facilities to process 1.6 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of non-associated sour gas from the high pressure Khuff and Jauf gas reservoirs on the south end of the Ghawar field. Gas plant facilities included gas-condensate separation, acid-gas removal, dehydration and sales gas recompression. Auxiliary facilities included wellhead connection and gas gathering, a gas transmission pipeline to the Master Gas System (MGS) and expansion of the MGS, sulfur recovery and truck shipment facilities, condensate transport and injection into the crude gathering system for transport to Ras Tanura Refinery, local maintenance and plant management facilities, and construction of a new road to the plant.

Haradh Gas Plant (1999–2003)
The Haradh Gas Plant has a design capacity of 1.6 billion cfd of combined raw feed of Khuff sour and sweet gas and Unayzah sweet gas to deliver 1.5 billion cfd of dry sweet gas to Saudi Arabia’s Master Gas System. The plant consists of two gas-sweetening and three sulfur-recovery trains, two condensate stabilizers, two sour-water strippers and four gas processing trains for gas dehydration, dew-point control and sales gas compression. The plant recovers 170,000 bpd of hydrocarbon condensate and 90 metric tons per day of elemental sulfur. Auxiliary facilities included: well-head connection and gas gathering; a 42–56" diameter, 395-km gas transmission pipeline to the Master Gas System and expansion of the MGS; sulfur recovery and truck shipment facilities; condensate transport and injection into the crude gathering system for transport to Ras Tanura Refinery; local maintenance and plant management facilities; and construction of a new access road and an airstrip for the plant.

Qatif Field Development (2001–2004)
The Qatif Program provided facilities for processing 500,000 bpd of Arabian Light and 300,000 bpd of Arabian Medium crude oil. The facilities also were designed to process 370 million standard cubic feet per day (scfd) of associated gas and 40,000 bpd of condensate. All crude is desalted, stabilized and processed, then shipped to Ju‘aymah and Ras Tanura terminals for direct export. The gas is processed at Berri Gas Plant. The facilities included three new gas-oil separation plants (GOSPs), five new and 10 upgraded offshore platforms, a major expansion of Berri Gas Plant, 34 drilling islands, and a 140-megawatt (MW) Cogeneration Plant, providing steam heat for oil dehydration and power for offshore electric submersible pumps. Pipeline work encompassed all gathering lines including offshore and shipping lines for oil, gas and condensate.

Hawiyah NGL Recovery Program (2003–2008)
The Hawiyah NGL Recovery Plant will process 4 billion standard cubic feet per day of sales gas from Hawiyah and Haradh gas plants to yield 310,000 bpd of ethane and natural gas liquids. The program will also expand the existing Hawiyah Gas Plant by 800 million cfd, install or expand pipelines for product shipments to Jubail and NGL to Ju‘aymah Gas Plant, and expand Ju‘aymah NGL fractionation facilities.

Khursaniyah Field Development (2005–2008)
The Khursaniyah Program Facilities will process 500,000 bpd of Arabian Light crude oil and 1 billion standard cubic feet per day of associated gas in a new grassroots gas plant. The output of the gas plant will include 280,000 bpd of condensate. The new facilities will also include new industrial support facilities. Due to the increased international demand for oil, Saudi Aramco decided to accelerate the development of these fields using new contracting strategies for the GOSP and the gas plant. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors provided proposals based on an enhanced design basis and uplifts for engineering and procurement with a provision to convert the contracts to lump-sum turnkey (LSTK). Preliminary engineering, detailed design and procurement were done on a reimbursable basis to expedite the work.

Khurais Field Development (2005–2009)
The Khurais program will build facilities designed to produce 1.2 million bpd of Arabian Light crude through a new Central Processing Facility (CPF), the largest of its kind in Saudi Arabia, near the town of Khurais. A new gas plant will treat the associated gas, producing 70,000 bpd of condensate and 420 million cfd of gas. The program will also provide 4.5 million bpd of seawater for injection to support the increased production from Khurais and Ghawar fields. The seawater-injection pipeline network will consist of 920 kilometers of 48-60" pipe. In addition, the program will increase the existing East/West NGL pipeline capacity from 425,000 bpd to 555,000 bpd to manage the increased NGL produced at Khurais. Infrastructure work includes an air strip, residential facilities for up to 1,000 personnel, and an industrial complex to handle facility maintenance.

Seismic readings being taken from atop a sand dune at Shaybah, 1993. The field holds more than 14 billion barrels of oil – roughly equivalent to the reserves of the North Sea and some 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. By the end of 2008, the expansion of Shaybah’s crude oil production capacity by 250,000 bpd will bring its total capacity to 750,000 bpd.
Photo by M. Mercer

Shaybah Field Expansion (2005–2008)
The Shaybah crude expansion program is designed to increase Arabian Extra Light oil production capacity from the current 500,000 bpd to 750,000 bpd. The program includes installation of a new GOSP and expansion of gas compression and injection facilities. A major oil pipeline loop will provide the increased capacity.

Manifa Field Development (2006–2011)
Under the Manifa program, Saudi Aramco plans to install central facilities at Manifa to process 900,000 barrels per day of Arabian Heavy crude oil. The Manifa Central Processing Facilities (CPF) will include gas and oil separation, wet crude handling, gas compression, gas conditioning, crude oil stabilization, produced water disposal and water injection facilities. The CPF will be designed to process 900,000 bpd of crude oil; approximately 120 million scfd of associated gas and 500,000 bpd of hydrocarbon condensate will be produced by this crude increment. The gas and condensate will be processed at Khursaniyah Gas Plant, and the crude will be transported to Ju‘aymah Terminal for export. This program is challenging primarily because of the location of the Manifa field in shallow water in the western Arabian Gulf, requiring a 41 km asphalted causeway and 27 drilling pads in the shallow water. This bay contains the most prolific shrimping area in Saudi Arabia, and all precautions will be taken to maintain this vital resource for the country. The program will include installation of four oil-producing offshore platforms with 10 producing and two evaluation wells each, and seven water-injection platforms with 10 water injectors each. Electric submersible pumps will provide artificial lift for production, which will be shipped without processing for multiphase flow transportation to the causeway and shore-based CPF.