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SATORP Refinery | Source: TotalEnergies, via NS Energy (June 13, 2019)

SATORP is one of the world's most advanced, fully integrated refining and petrochemical platforms, purpose-built to process Arabian Heavy crude — one of the most difficult and high-sulfur grades to refine — with zero fuel oil production. It has an original design capacity of 400,000 bpd and was subsequently debottlenecked to a current throughput of 460,000 bpd. It is located on a 480-hectare site within Jubail Industrial City 2 on Saudi Arabia's eastern Gulf coast, covering a total built-up area of 70,000 m². It employs approximately 1,100 personnel.

Processing Configuration

SATORP is a full-conversion refinery, meaning it produces no heavy fuel oil or bitumen — all residues are upgraded into lighter, high-value products. The complex includes two crude processing trains and the following key units:

• Crude Distillation Units (CDU): two trains (initial total 400,000 bpd)
• Delayed Coker Unit: 103,000 bpd
• Distillate Hydrocrackers: two units, converting heavy fractions to ultra-low-sulfur products
• Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU): producing light hydrocarbons, propylene, and LPG
• Aromatics Unit: producing paraxylene and benzene
• Sulfur Recovery / Amine Units
• Tank farm, pipeline, and offsites
• Port facilities at King Fahd Industrial Port, Jubail (with 25-km pipeline and petcoke transport system)

Products

Annual output reaches approximately 22 million tonnes of refined petroleum and petrochemical products:

• Paraxylene: 700,000 t/year
• Propylene (high-purity): 210,000 t/year
• Benzene: 150,000 t/year
• LPG, gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, petroleum coke (petcoke)

Products are exported to the US Gulf Coast, European, and Asian markets. SATORP is the first refinery in Saudi Arabia to produce petroleum coke and paraxylene, and one of the largest petcoke producers in the Middle East.

Key Competitive Advantages

• Full conversion with a coker: no residual fuel oil production
• Deep integration between fuels and petrochemicals in a single complex
• Site proximity to international shipping lanes, Aramco's crude and gas supply infrastructure, and Jubail's broader industrial complex
• First refinery built and operated in Jubail 2, described as an environmentally compliant facility