Saudi Aramco Base Oil is targeting mechanical completion of the expansion project at its Yanbu base oils facility in December, followed by pre-commissioning in January next year.

The project targets total production capacity of around 1.3 million tonnes/year of base oils at the Yanbu plant once it is fully operational.

The plant will have the flexibility to produce either Group II or Group III base oils.

Saudi Aramco Base Oil, also known as Luberef, plans a 45-day shutdown of the Yanbu unit from mid-November to end-December ahead of the pre-commissioning, the company said in an earnings call.

Luberef’s base oils sales rose by 4% in 2024 to 1.30 million tonnes. More than half the volume stayed in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region.

Some 20% of the supplies moved to India and 6% to Africa.

Luberef’s current total production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes/year consists mostly of Group II base oils at Yanbu, as well as 275,000 tonnes/year of Group I base oils at Jeddah.