Six largest oil refineries of the world

Petrochemicals can be found everywhere, from

the clothes we wear, our laptops and mobile
phones to cleaning products, fertilisers, and
packaging. As a report by the International Energy
Agency states, petrochemical feedstock is
responsible for 12 per cent of global oil
requirements, and this is set to grow as demand
for fertilisers, plastics, and other products
increases.
The sheer scale and complexity of refineries
involve astonishing feats of engineering and
require in-depth expertise from initial conception
straight through to commissioning and operation.
So where are 6 of the biggest refineries in the
world that contribute to making our world as we
know it?
Jamnagar Refinery, Reliance Industries – India
The Jamnagar Refinery, commissioned in July 1999,
is a private sector crude oil refinery and the largest
refinery in the world, with a capacity of 1.24 million
barrels of oil per day. It’s owned by Reliance
Industries Limited and is located in Jamnagar,
Gujarat, India.
The whole complex now consists of a fully
integrated petroleum refinery, a petrochemicals
complex, captive power plants, a captive port,
related infrastructure, and a small town that houses
its 2,500 employees and which has over 7,500 acres
of land. If one were to link all the pipes of the
refinery one after the other, they would link India
from North to South.
When it was completed by Bechtel in 2000, it was
already the largest ever petrochemical and refinery
complex in the world to be built from nothing. It
was then expanded in 2008, through an investment
of more than 6 billion USD, with a second adjacent
refinery, nearly doubling its initial capacity.
When construction was at its peak, the project
involved more than 70,000 employees. Bechtel also
created a virtual company that employed about
2,800 professionals across 19 offices worldwide.
Construction of the second refinery required more
than 200,000 supplier and engineering documents,
4 million metres of piping, over 1.5 million cubic
metres of concrete, and 4,400 pieces of major
equipment, whilst the worksite covered an area
bigger than London.
Ulsan Refinery, SK Energy – South Korea
The Ulsan Refinery, owned by SK Energy, is located
in Ulsan, South Korea. As of 2006, the refinery
reached a capacity of 1.12 million barrels per day. It
produces liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, diesel,
jet fuel, and asphalt. The refinery and wider
business currently employ more than 2,600 people.
Ulsan is the country’s seventh largest metropolitan
city and is considered the powerhouse of South
Korea. It’s at the heart of the country’s Industrial
District.
On top of one of the world’s largest refineries,
Ulsan is home to the largest automobile assembly
plant in the world, operated by Hyundai Motor
Company and has the world’s largest shipyard,
operated by Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Paraguaná Refinery Complex, PDVSA – Venezuela
The Paraguaná Refinery Complex is a crude oil
refinery located in Venezuela, with a total
processing capacity of 971 thousand barrels a day.
It’s currently the third-largest oil refinery in the
world, after the Jamnagar and Ulsan refineries.
The whole complex was created by combining three
existing refineries: the Amuay Refinery, the Bajo
Grande Refinery, and the Cardón Refinery.
Operated by the state-owned company Petróleos
de Venezuela (PDVSA), the Paraguaná Refinery
Complex is responsible for 71 per cent of
Venezuela’s refining capacity.
The Cardon Refinery was owned by Shell and
started operations in 1949. The Amuay Refinery was
then built by Creole Petroleum in 1950 and the Bajo
Grande Refinery in 1956 by Richmond
(now Chevron). The combined crude oil processing
capacity of the Cardon and the Amuay refineries is
955,000 barrels per day, whilst the Bajo Grande
asphalt plant is capable of processing 16,000 barrels
per day of crude.
Yeosu Refinery, GS Caltex – South Korea
The Yeosu Refinery is the second biggest in South
Korea, with a total capacity of 730,000 barrels per
day. It’s operated by GS Caltex (jointly owned
by Chevron and GS Group) and produces gasoline,
diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, and sulphur. GS Caltex
supplies more than one-third of Korea's oil needs
and exports more than 50% of its products.
In 2007, GS Caltex invested 1.5 billion USD to build,
what was at the time, the world’s largest vacuum
distillation unit, a hydrocracker, and base oil plant.
This dramatically increased GS Caltex's heavy-oil
cracking ability.
More recently, GS Caltex announced that it had
successfully switched from low-sulphur fuel oil
(LSFO) to liquified natural gas (LNG) for the
operation of the Yeosu refinery, in a bid to reduce
their CO2 emissions. They are expecting this
transition to reduce the refinery’s CO2 emissions by
over 19% and particular matter emissions (such as
sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides) by more than
30%.
Onsan Refinery, S-Oil – South Korea
The Onsan Refinery, owned by S-Oil, is also located
in Ulsan in South Korea. It has a total processing
capacity of 669 thousand barrels per day.
S-Oil first started commercial operation of its crude
oil distillation unit in 1980. Since then, there have
been two expansions. S-Oil now has three crude
distillation units and have become a key player for
hard oil provision in the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2005, they also started exporting Ultra Low
Sulphur Gasoline (ULSG) of below 10ppm sulphur
contents to Japan, following strict environmental
regulations. S-Oil has focused a lot of its energy on
producing and exporting high-quality environment-
friendly oil products around the world, including
Europe, Asia, the US, and Oceania.
Singapore Refinery, ExxonMobil - Singapore
The Singapore Refinery, owned by ExxonMobil, has
a total processing capacity of 605 thousand barrels
per day. Located on Jurong Island in Singapore, it’s
ExxonMobil’s biggest refinery.
The refinery originally consisted of two sites
connected by pipelines. There was one refinery site
on Pioneer Road, which was commissioned by
Mobil in 1966. The other refining facility was
located at the Pulau Ayer Chawan site,
commissioned by Esso in 1970. When Esso and
Mobil merged in 1999 to become ExxonMobil, the
new company started operating both sites as a
single refinery complex.
There are currently plans for an expansion to
produce more higher-value lube products from fuel
oil. Final Investment Decision (FID) was made and
engineering, procurement, and construction
contracts for the expansion were awarded by
ExxonMobil in April 2019. This expansion is
expected to cost about 2.9 billion USD. Completion
is expected for 2023. Such an expansion will, of
course, create a whole host of new jobs for
engineers and other industry experts.
This expansion project will increase the refinery’s
low-sulphur clean fuel output by 48 thousand
barrels per day. It will also increase ExxonMobil’s
base stocks of high-quality automotive and engine
oil lubricants by 20 thousand barrels per day.