Honeywell UOP announced that it has signed an agreement with the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Co. (JPRC) to facilitate a $1.6-billion expansion of its refinery in Zarqa, Jordan. This expansion will increase the capacity of the facility to 120,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) and will allow JPRC to upgrade the quality of its product to meet Euro V emissions specifications.
The ceremony was attended by Jordanian Prime Minister H.E. Hani Al-Mulki, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources H.E. Dr. Ibrahim Saif, JPRC Board Chairman Walid Asfour, Vice Chairman Omar Al-Kurdi, JPRC CEO Abdul Karim Alaween and Honeywell UOP President and CEO Rebecca Liebert.
“The expansion of the Zarqa refinery is a very important project because, in addition to improving the quality of products, it will grow its capacity to 120,000 barrels per day,” said JPRC CEO Abdul Karim Alaween. “It will help us meet the rising demand for fuel, which is growing at an average of 3 percent every year.”
As part of the project, which is the fourth such expansion of the JPRC refinery, Honeywell UOP will provide manager licensing services, technology licensing, front-end engineering design consultancy services, and basic engineering design. It also will provide catalysts and process equipment, and training and start-up services.
“Honeywell UOP has worked with JPRC since it was established in 1956, beginning with design services and technology licensing and the subsequent construction of its first refinery,” said Honeywell UOP’s Liebert. “We are especially grateful to be involved in the expansion of the Zarqa refinery, which will increase its volume and upgrade the quality of its petroleum products and support the further economic development of Jordan.”
Technologies provided by Honeywell UOP will include crude and vacuum distillation units — designed by Houston-based Process Consulting Services, Inc. — for distilling crude oil into various fractions. Honeywell UOP also will provide Unicracking and hydrotreating units to create clean distillate, as well as CCR Platforming, Penex, MinAlk, Merox and Selectfining units for producing cleaner-burning high-octane motor fuels, and a Polybed PSA unit for purifying hydrogen.