Honeywell UOP said it has signed an agreement with the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (JPRC) to facilitate a $1.6 billion expansion of its refinery in Zarqa region of the kingdom.

The move is aimed at increasing the capacity of the facility to 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) and allow JPRC to upgrade the quality of its product to meet Euro V emissions specifications, said the company in a statement.

The JPRC is the sole oil refining company of Jordan, publicly traded on the Amman Stock Exchange, with headquarters in the capital of Amman, and a refinery in Zarqa, 35 km east of Amman. It manufactures a variety of fuels and refinery derivatives, and wholly owns a subsidiary oil marketing company.

"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," remrked 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," stated Alaween at the signing ceremony which was attended by Jordanian Prime Minister Hani Al Mulki, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Dr Ibrahim Saif, JPRC Board chairman Walid Asfour, vice chairman Omar Al Kurdi, JPRC chief executive Abdul Karim Alaween and Honeywell UOP president and chief executive Rebecca Liebert.

As part of the project, which is the fourth such expansion of the JPRC refinery, Honeywell UOP will provide managing licensor 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.

On the contract win, Liebert said: "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."

"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," she stated.

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, noted Liebert.

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, she added.-TradeArabia News Service