OREANDA-NEWS. April 30, 2014. Seeking to continue momentum in our efforts to build downstream opportunities, Saudi Aramco recently sponsored the first Olefins Academy with Linde Engineering.

The event was attended by more than 70 participants from across Saudi Aramco from Chemicals, Refining & NGL, Marketing Supply and JV Coordination, Pipelines, Engineering Services and Corporate Planning.

“The goal of the Olefins Academy is to provide practical training in the olefins business and in steam cracking technology,” said Salem R. Al Subayee, director of Chemicals Business Coordination and Support Department’s Growth Project Division. “That’s why we sponsored the German-based technology licenser to come here and provide technical training on steam cracking.”

There were 70 participants, mostly engineers from the Downstream business line, Engineering Services, Corporate Planning, and Research and Development. As Saudi Aramco pursues organic growth in its chemicals strategy, the company is looking at all of its refining assets for integration opportunities to produce olefins and downstream petrochemical derivatives.

Olefins production is a natural move for the company, which is seeking to reach a refining/chemical integration of 9.5 percent by 2020. The company is looking to integrate Ras Tanura refinery with a steam cracker for olefins production. The downstream derivative units will be either placed within Ras Tanura Refinery or will be located in Jubail. The olefins supply to Jubail and connecting Ras Tanura to the planned olefins grid at Jubail will open opportunities for small olefins consumers to bring downstream specialty chemical products to the Kingdom.

“It is a natural move to expand Saudi Aramco’s portfolio to make our vision of becoming a fully integrated energy and chemicals company,” said Al Subayee. “To this end, we are leveraging relationships such as this one with Linde and others. This makes a perfect fit for us while we are studying our refining assets and opening our systems and capabilities to integration to olefins. We are providing training opportunities for Downstream and also to the people who are already working with us on refining/chemicals integration initiatives. It is perfect timing for us.