Engineering & projects

The Capital Management System (CMS)

Our state-of-the-art CMS has enabled our project team to boost capital efficiency and deliver FGP at an exceptionally competitive cost.

With 210 million safe hours, the project set new standards for health and safety – producing the best possible outcome for more than 25,000 construction and engineering specialists.

It also made a major contribution to the Kingdom’s economy, as we placed 46% of orders with local vendors.

Two different kinds of gas from two different fields

With five gas treatment trains, FGP was purpose-designed to process two different kinds of gas from two different fields – Hasbah Offshore and Khursaniyah Onshore.

Both produce non-associated gas, but the gas from Khursaniyah has a significantly lower energy content. That’s why we send it to an adjacent combined heat and power (CHP) plant we co-own with Saudi Electricity Company ENGIE. This enormous plant has a capacity of 1.5 gigawatts (gWs), partially for company use and partially to support the national power grid.

Reducing CO2 emissions and energy consumption

We’re passionate about playing our part in the climate crisis. That’s why we’ve deployed unique technology in FGP – turbochargers that reduce energy consumption by 55% gWs per year.

The turbochargers convert the high pressure of the incoming gas stream into mechanical energy that drives our circulation pumps. This reduces CO2 emissions by 60 tons per year whilst releasing power for use across the Kingdom.

The result is a world first – and a clear example of how we’re innovating to make a difference.

Setting new standards in safety

Throughout the FGP project, we applied the most stringent safety standards in everything we did. This included launching three major initiatives to guide and monitor safe working – because our people are our biggest asset.

Manifa

How do you overcome the impossible? The Manifa oil field – perhaps the most remarkable engineering project in our history – provides the answer.

This huge six-reservoir field – 45km long and 18km wide, lying in less than 15 meters of water – was discovered back in 1957. However, we also discovered that it was an incredible nature reserve, filled with seagrass and coral reefs, pearl oysters and sea snakes, shrimps and crabs, and dolphins and sea turtles. But that’s not all: it was also a safe haven for migratory birds.

Extracting the oil without damaging the ecosystem presented one of the greatest challenges we have ever faced. Conventional shallow water drill rigs were out of the question, due to the damage they could cause.

Nearly 50 years later, in 2006, we invested $10 billion to solve this intractable problem.

Planning to perform the impossible

Bringing together engineers, environmental protection officials, scientists, geologists, and marine experts, we set about formulating a plan of action. Abandoning the easy option of building 30 offshore platforms, we decided to convert more than 70% of the area into an onshore field.

That meant creating 27 man-made islands, each the size of 10 soccer pitches, from 45 million cubic meters of sand reclaimed from the seabed. Linked by a 41-meter causeway, the islands would become the drilling sites. To make things more complex, we launched a feasibility study with the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), which demonstrated that marine life needed to move freely from deep to shallow water. We therefore mapped out the islands with great care, leaving a gap between causeway and coastline and adding 13 bridges of up to 2.4 km.

Our designers and engineers spent 4 million hours on the design phase alone, with 136,149 engineering drawings and plans for the 27 islands, 13 bridges, 13 offshore platforms, 15 onshore drilling sites, 350 new wells, injection facilities, multiple pipelines, and a 420-megawatt heat and electricity plant.

Bringing new technology to life

We faced equally significant challenges underground: as the reservoirs were stacked on top of one another, we had to create new technology from scratch. Enter a custom-designed nuclear magnetic resonance tool that created 3D profiles of the reservoir layers, so we could tap into reserves at extreme distances through a heavy layer of tar.

The project involved tens of thousands of people and the field had a number of hydrogen sulphide gas (HGS) hotspots, so we faced equally arduous health and safety challenges. How did we solve them? Through creating a control room that monitored wind speed and a digital map that identified H2S zones. We also implemented extensive H2S training, and our program as a whole won the International Corporate Health and Productivity Prize.

Delivering energy for life

Oil production began in 2013 – three months ahead of schedule and more than a billion pounds under budget. In July, we achieved milestone production of 500,000 barrels of oil per day and reached our ultimate target of 900,000 barrels in 2017.

To process all this oil, we developed the Manifa Central Processing facility, comprising three identical gas-oil separation plants (GOSPs), each designed to treat 300,000 barrels a day. Add in 900,000 km of pipes and cables, and the result was possibly the most ambitious program in the Kingdom’s history – so it’s little wonder we won the Innovative Oil Project of the Year award for our achievements and our incredible safety record of more than 80 million hours without injury.

The Manifa field today

Today’s visitors to Manifa Bay will discover a magnificent island city floating in the Arabian Gulf. They’ll also find a place where wildlife thrives whilst oil is produced to meet the world’s needs. In fact, our causeway design enhanced the natural circulation of tidal waters, creating a healthier environment for shrimp and fish populations. Seagrass meadows have increased in size and coral reefs have grown to the extent that they are spreading onto the rocks of the causeway. National Geographic were so impressed that they created a film about the region and the project.

Building great careers and a thriving economy

During the execution phase alone, we created more than 21,000 jobs for people from 25 nations. 80% of our workforce comprised new hires, and 360 young Saudis started careers as engineers, operators, and maintenance personnel. We completed more than 5 million hours of training in 2013 alone – giving people the skills to realise their full potential while doing the same for Manifa Bay.

The project had a huge effect on the broader Saudi economy as well. Employment, private sector activity, and the national economy all grew as a result of the project, and local residents enjoyed improved infrastructure sand services.

Making energy efficiency reality

Finally, the Manifa Bay project represents another first for us – co-generation of electricity allows it not only to operate self-sufficiently but also provide a power surplus. That’s on top of the energy from its oil, which meets the needs of 100 million people around the world.

So, it’s hardly surprising that Manifa Bay has been called a wonder of the modern world. It’s also a landmark in our history – a prime example of what happens when imagination overcomes the impossible.

Sadara

Sadara isn’t just another project. It’s the cornerstone of our downstream strategy to remain a leading global integrated energy and chemicals company. It’s also vital to increase the value we deliver from the Kingdom’s hydrocarbon resources.

Our partnership with the Dow Chemical Company was the bedrock of Sadara. Their track record in producing high volumes of specialty chemicals combined with our expertise in refining to deliver high-volume, versatile feedstocks to create a winning partnership: the Sadara Chemical Company.

The sheer scope and scale of Sadara made it a first for the Kingdom – and the wider industry. In 2007, we began formulating plans with Dow to build a brand-new, world-class chemicals complex. Construction began in 2011 in Jubail Industrial City on the east coast – chosen because of its strategic access to growing chemical markets across Asia.

Sadara contains no fewer than 26 world-scale manufacturing plants, capable of producing more than three million tons of performance plastics and high-value chemicals every year. Fourteen deliver specialty chemical products that had never been produced in the Kingdom before.

A first for the Kingdom – and beyond

Sadara’s mixed feed steam cracker came to life in 2016, making it the first chemicals facility in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to crack naphtha. The cracker, which breaks ethane and naphtha to form new molecules, including ethylene and propylene, enables the production of diverse plastics and chemical products used in packaging, construction, electronics, furniture, and the automotive industry.

In another first for the region, Sadara also produces toluene diisocyanate (TDI). This is used in the production of flexible polyurethane foam for furniture, mattresses, cushioning, and car seats, as well as for coatings, adhesives, sealants, and specialty foams.

The incredible scope of Sadara

Sadara is the largest chemical complex built in a single phase. It employs more than 4,300 people, 2,000 of whom enjoyed intensive on-the-job training. Its effects are far-reaching – industrial clusters, value parks, and knowledge-based research, engineering, and service firms have been created because of Sadara’s success.

But that’s just the beginning.

Another partnership, this time between Sadara and the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu’, has driven the creation of the PlasChem conversion park – key to realizing the full value of the Sadara complex.

PlasChem’s mission is simple: to convert feedstock into high-value finished products via 12 square kilometers of advanced technology. It is the crowning jewel of Sadara and another prime example of how strategic partnerships have changed the world.

Shaybah

Shaybah has been called the most remote treasure on Earth. So, when we discovered a vast oil field in the middle of Rub’ al-Khali desert, how did we realize its full potential?

Saudi Arabia has some of the best oil fields in the world. The problem is that they are often in the most inaccessible areas. But that’s not going to stop us. So, when we discovered the Ghawar field on the edge of Rub’ al-Khali back in 1948, we were determined to discover what other treasures the desert was hiding.

Twenty years later our search paid off: 500 miles from our headquarters we identified a vast oil field set amid dunes over 300 meters high, buffeted by winds of up to 80 kph, and baked by the sun to an incredible 50C. Back in 1968, the resources didn’t exist to obtain oil from such a setting and so nothing happened for nearly the next 30 years.

Extreme engineering for extreme conditions

By the nineties, everything had changed: we now had the technology and the engineering knowhow to make Shaybah a reality. But we’d need to apply our imaginations to the full to access the 13.6 billion barrels of Arabian Extra Light Oil (AXL) and 25 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas that Shaybah concealed.

In 1995, we started moving 13 million cubic meters of sand and constructing a 386 km road across the desert. But that was just the beginning: we also required a dedicated airport, a 645 km pipeline, 145 oil wells, and three gas oil separation plants. Plus, of course, all the housing and ancillary facilities to support a vast workforce in one of the remotest places on earth.

Bringing Shaybah to life

In 1998, following 50 million man-hours, we completed Shaybah a year ahead of schedule. The result? Half a million barrels of oil per day – sufficient to supply 10 million households.

But we knew that Shaybah had even greater potential. So, we embarked on two new projects: The Oil Field Expansion Project and the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Recovery Project. The former doubled Shaybah’s production to an incredible million barrels per day. The latter significantly reduced the use of liquid fuel for power generation across the Kingdom via a 2.4 bscfd Natural Gas Liquids recovery plant.

Introducing the Shaybah Wildlife Sanctuary

But Shaybah isn’t just about power. We’re equally passionate about the environment and the communities we serve. The 637 square km Shaybah Wildlife Sanctuary, next to our mega-facility, is a place where three once-endangered Arabian species now thrive. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: the fenced sanctuary protects dozens of native plants and animal species, with the Arabian oryx, Arabian sand gazelle, and ostrich having been reintroduced to their natural habitat.

All of this took place alongside a facility that can supply the whole world’s oil requirements for more than 160 days (or Europe’s for over two years). Our GCC environmental excellence stewardship award simply confirms what we know already: Shaybah is one of the most remarkable projects we have ever undertaken, and one of the most inspiring places on earth.

Wasit

Once an unwanted by-product of oil production, gas is now prized for its high energy content and low emissions, and is used as a key feedstock for the chemicals industry.

Harnessing the power of natural gas allows us to save crude oil for higher value uses, grow our chemicals business, and increase the use of this cleaner-burning fuel source in the Kingdom’s energy mix.

A plant of epic proportions

To make this happen, we had to create one of the largest gas plants in our history. Wasit Gas Plant was brought onstream in October 2015 with the objective of processing solely non-associated gas and reached its full operating capacity in 2016.

Whilst a significant proportion of our business centers on crude oil and its many uses, natural gas is becoming an increasingly important product for power generation and industrial development across the Kingdom. Wasit meets this growing demand via a number of innovative solutions.

To accelerate the development of the project, we utilized our Event Solution Center, which brings together multidisciplinary experts to develop unique strategies. This integrated model streamlined processes and technologies, whilst ongoing assessments gave our project managers more clarity – saving time and costs.

Another key contribution was the development of ‘big bore’ well completions: high-capacity wells capable of producing gas at very high rates. This tactic significantly reduces the cost of production and gives us greater flexibility to meet demand.

The right plant in the right location

Why did we choose a site close to Jubail for Wasit? That’s easy: to be close to existing infrastructure as well as related projects such as the Fadhili Gas Plant and the railroad connecting Ma’aden to Ras Al-Khair. This meant that utilities like electricity and water were already available at Jubail and nearby Khursaniyah, as well as access roads.

What’s more, much of our non-associated gas comes from offshore fields such as Hasbah and Arabiyah, so a coastal location was a must.

But that’s only part of the picture.

Wasit is part of the Master Gas System (MGS): a Kingdom-wide gas gathering, processing, and distribution infrastructure network. Gas produced at Wasit travels through the MGS to our customers throughout Saudi Arabia – giving them a vital energy source and enabling us to integrate our upstream and downstream operations.

Construction of the MGS began in the seventies, and in 2018 we completed the first phase of an expansion project that added 1 bscfd of capacity, raising the total capacity to 9.6 bsfcd. The second phase will take capacity all the way to 12.5 bscfd, adding more than 1,600 km of pipelines to the system.

Energy efficiency is our goal

We’re determined to become self-sufficient in power generation. That’s why Wasit converts waste heat to steam – generating enough energy to satisfy the plant’s needs and export power for use in other installations. This process of cogeneration enables us to produce electricity as a natural by-product of our operations, meaning less fuel is needed to produce energy. In fact, we’ve managed to reduce energy consumption across our buildings, transportation, and communities by more than 35%. So, we cut our emissions and everyone benefits from a greener, cleaner future.

Harnessing the power of people

Behind the power of cogeneration is the power of people. More than 400 professionals led the design and construction of the Wasit Gas Plant, many of them young graduates of our apprenticeship program.

But that’s not the only way we’re investing in the future of local communities.

We aim to source as many goods and services as possible from local business. Approximately 40% of Wasit’s materials were bought and manufactured locally, diversifying the Kingdom’s economy and creating careers in manufacturing for countless Saudis.

What’s more, Wasit will deliver opportunities for a broad range of Saudi industries, such as steel, aluminum, petrochemicals, water desalination, and electricity production. It will also enable downstream value-added industries to produce antifreeze, solvents, fuels, and other advanced materials – so everyone will benefit from our innovation.