Saudi Aramco delays hydrocracker restart

The hydrocracker, which cracks residues such as atmospheric gas oil (AGO) to yield higher-value products like naphtha and gas oil, has failed to restart with the rest of the 550,000-bpd complex, which resumed operations three to four weeks ago.

The hydrocracking unit is now expected to be down for at least another week.

It is the second time in two years that the hydrocracker has failed to restart following a turnaround. Last year, the secondary unit was restarted about three months past the scheduled date.

“The hydrocracker has always been quite troublesome. It has regularly given problems when it is supposed to restart after a turnaround and it’s no different this time,” the source said.

“All indications are that it should restart within the week and I will believe it when it happens.”

Aramco has offered 200,000 barrels of atmospheric gas oil for July 19-20 loading from Ras Tanura, in a rare tender, the first time it has done so in a year.

It last offered a similar AGO parcel in June last year when the hydrocracker also failed to restart after maintenance and prompted Aramco to sell 11 cargoes of vacuum gas oil (VGO) totalling 2.75 million barrels over a three-month period.

The refiner did not sell any VGO this time round.

Last week, the refiner restarted a 20,000-bpd asphalt unit, among others, which it progressively restarted in the refinery complex.

The facility is one of Aramco’s three main sources of fuel oil exports, selling 720,000 tonnes of the cracked A961 180-centistoke (cst) grade in the first quarter through term and spot contracts. In contrast, it sold 450,000 tonnes of straight-run A960 cargoes, which are normally used as feedstocks, for April and May loadings. Traders said exports of the A961 grade would resume by next month if the hydrocracker can be restarted according to expectations. Otherwise, Aramco could see more AGO or VGO lots.