Arab Decision

The Ruwais story began in the 1970s, when plans were
laid to transform a remote desert site into a self-contained
industrial town, geared to fulfilling the downstream
requirements of Abu Dhabi′s booming oil and gas industry.
Situated about 250 kilometres in the Western Region of Abu
Dhabi, the Ruwais Refinery was commissioned in 1981 and
was officially inaugurated in March 1982. The orginal
hydroskimming complex was designed to process 120,000
barrels of oil per stream day, mainly to cater for the export market.

A 27,000 bpsd Hydrocracker Complex was commissioned in 1985 to meet the soaring
demand for ADNOC′s high quality products and to add value to Abu Dhabi′s hydrocarbon
resources. The complex upgrades atmospheric residue from Ruwais and UAN Refineries to
valuable light and middle distillates. Most of the Refinery units are operated above design
capacity with visible advantage to overall economics. Two condensate processing trains have
been commissioned recently thus trebling the refinery capacity to 420,000 bpsd.

The Refinery and its General Utilities Plant (GUP) are self sufficient in their utilities and
produce power, steam and desalinated water for own use and also supply utilities to other
industrial users and surrounding communities. GUP is also being expanded on a large scale
to meet the future needs of Ruwais Industrial Complex and surrounding communities.

In support of the company′s HSE policy , a Sulphur Handling and Granulation Plant was
commissioned in 1992 to granulate liquid Sulphur received from Atheer, ADGAS, Ruwais and
UAN Refineries, for export markets. Of the two granulated Sulphur storage sheds, one has a
capacity of 110,000 tonnes, the largest in the world.

A major expansion project is currently in hand and with its commissioning, the Sulphur
Granulation Plant would become the largest in the world with a capacity of 6200 tpd.