DuPont to Design PetroRabigh Safety Strategy

photo : arabianoilandgas.com

Very encouraging to see this week's news that Petro Rabigh has engaged DuPont Sustainable Solutions (DSS) to assist it on its journey towards world class safety performance.

DSS will initially carry out a baseline audit and will then work with Petro Rabigh to define a detailed implementation plan.

DuPont has always been an acknowledged leader in safety performance and safety culture, so this engagement shows real commitment on the part of Petro Rabigh in achieving world class levels of safety.

As those with experience in the industry know very well, safety culture takes time and significant management effort to develop but understanding current performance and then implementing an action plan is a very effective means of moving forward quickly.

This blog wishes Petro Rabigh much sucess with this positive initiative.

PetroRabigh I Inaugurated - Now For Phases 2 and 3

photo : Petrorabigh

On 8th November, the huge Petro Rabigh I project was inaugurated by the Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi. With Petro Rabigh I now in the start-up phase, attention is now switching to the next phases of the project

Phase I of the project, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo, comprises an integrated refinery/petrochemicals compex with production capacities of 1250 kT ethylene, 900 kT propylene and downstream PE, PP, PO and MEG.

The memorandum of understanding for the feasibility study for Petro Rabigh II was signed back in April. Phase 2 includes expansion of the cracker, construction of an aromatics unit and various downstream units such as MMA, PMMA, LDPE/EVA, caprolactam, polyols, cumene, phenol/acetone, acrylic acid, SAP and Nylon-6.

It is also being suggested that a phase 3 will be considered, to expand production at the site and achieve further downstream integration.

The development is a part of the the Kingdom's plan to diversify the economy and income resources, and to create new job opportunities for Saudi citizens. Many thousands will be employed, housed, and schooled in Rabigh, which will make it a major city in Saudi Arabia. The Rabigh development is also linked to the development of the nearby King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), which opened in September 2009 amd is planned to become a world class university and research centre.

Altogether a stunning project and one which can only enhance the on-going development of Saudi Arabia.

Operating Problems Hitting Chemical Producers

There have been a number of recent press reports of operating problems at major chemical installations. In Europe, crackers have been in the headlines in recent days, with outages at a number of sites. In Saudi Arabia, on-going technical problems are reported to have impacted the recently commissioned Petro Rabigh facility. Technical problem solving is an issue for many organisations. In particular, new facilities do not necessarily have the experience and the skilled personnel with a capability in troubleshooting. Where multiple problems exist, it is important to prioritise the issues, rather than trying to tackle all at once and then use a rigorous and highly systematic approach to diagnose and resolve those problems. If organisations have insufficient in-house capability, external support should be sought, otherwise minor problems have a habit of growing into much bigger issues.