Yanbu’ EMSR
Yanbu’ Refinery leads the way in clean fuel and 3-D innovation
Company leaders laud technological advancements at Executive Management Safety Review.
A Clean Fuel Safety transformation and a 3-D hub “Safety through Innovation” initiative took center stage in this week’s Executive Management Safety Review (EMSR) at Aramco’s Yanbu’ area.
The EMSR, led by president and CEO Amin Nasser, and senior vice president of Downstream, Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani, was hosted by Yanbu’ Refinery Department manager, Abdulatif S. Al-Shami.
Tours
The corporate and senior management attendees split into two tours, with Nasser’s group touring the Yanbu’ Refinery, Fire Station, Yanbu’ Bulk Plant, and the Distribution Hub.
Al Qahtani led his group on a tour of the Yanbu’ NGL, Western Region Emergency Control and Western Region Terminal.
At the Yanbu’ Refinery, Nasser was updated on its clean fuel journey by Ahmed F. Dawood and operator, Elyas A. Abdulmjeed.
Milestone
As a result, a detailed clean fuel transformation plan was adopted enabling the Yanbu’ Refinery to achieve a milestone.
Dawood said, “For gasoline, the Yanbu’ Refinery conducted a thorough technical evaluation with several test runs at different refinery throughputs to identify the optimum operation to meet gasoline clean fuel specifications.
Leading refinery
“I am glad to announce that the Yanbu’ Refinery is the leading local refinery in the production of clean fuel gasoline at a sustainable rate of 28,000 barrels per day (MBD), with a refinery throughput of 200 MBD, as of April 2021, ahead of the finish date of November,” said Dawood.
“For diesel, the diesel hydrotreater unit was shut down for 33 days stream-to-stream in November 2020 for catalyst upgrades where 450 tons of new generation catalyst was loaded,” he added.
3-D hub
The positive impact of Yanbu’s 3-D hub on a range of areas of operations and safety was delivered by operator Abdulrhman M. Jubairy.
He told the EMSR that the 3-D hub had been tackling many challenges, notably obsolete spare parts and areas of safety.
“The Yanbu’ Refinery has established the 3-D hub to offer localized safety solutions by utilizing one of the main IR 4.0 methods to sustain our safety culture through innovation,” Jubairy said, noting cost and time savings while creating an innovation portal channel through which employees can submit solutions.
“For example, we have implemented different types of safety approaches to COVID-19, like the door handle opener, strap mask adjuster, and even an arm kit consisting of sanitizer, gloves and a respiratory device (a mobile first-aid kit of sorts) that was distributed to nurses in hospitals in the Yanbu’ Area.”
The 3-D hub, Jubairy added, had met more than 55 types of obsolete spare parts challenges, and manufactured more than 1,800 pieces of equipment in accordance with machinery spare and reverse engineering standards.
Positive safety marks
Reports on the area’s positive safety performance, and a Earlier, its COVID-19 prevention efforts, environmental performance, asset integrity, cybersecurity, as well as success stories, were delivered.
Lost time incidents have shown a steady decline since 2019 among both employees and contractors, and motor vehicle accidents have also declined.
Attending the EMSR
The EMSR was also attended by Abdullah M. Al Mansour, vice president of Pipelines Distribution and Terminals; Aali M. Al Zahrani, vice president of Safety and Industrial Security; Fahad M. Abdul Kareem, executive director of Industrial Services; and Fergus I. Macleod, vice president of Investor Relations.