The Jizan Refinery project which is targeted to be completed this year is set to boost economic growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Located in the Jizan province, the new refinery by Saudi Aramco is expected to support the future development of Jizan Economic City - an initiative by the late King Abdullah in 2006 to create employment opportunities in this part of the Kingdom.

In addition, the increase in refining capacity secures long-term oil contracts while the refined products are used as feedstock for petrochemicals. The refinery is split into several units comprising of amine regeneration, hydrocracker and hydro treater, naphtha and aromatics units, utilities and tank farms.

The first major unit of the refinery was completed at the end of 2017 while the mechanical completion should take place by third or fourth quarter of this year.

GMA Garnet™ abrasive remained the preferred abrasive by most of the contractors working on this project. To date, GMA has supplied over 90,000 tonnes of GMA Garnet™ and Arabian Garnet abrasive for surface preparation works on structural steel, piping, vessels and tanks.

Once complete, the refinery will have the capacity to produce 400,000 barrels (bpd) per day and will process heavy and medium crude oil into around 75,000 bpd of gasoline and 250,000 bpd of ultra-low-sulfur diesel. Products will also include liquefied petroleum gas, sulfur, asphalt, benzene and paraxylene.