MEG LICENSING

Second Shell OMEGA

start-up success
The second plant to license the Shell OMEGA (Only

Rots says that even with the challenge

Mono-Ethylene Glycol Advantage) process successfully

construction project, which at its peak

started up in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

of working within such a massive

had a workforce of 40,000, the full
start up was completed without any
major issues and the OMEGA plant

The 600 kt per year MEG plant owned

Initially, the plant was run without

by Petro Rabigh came onstream in April

methane, one of the key ancillary

2009, and follows the start-up of Lotte

chemicals required to achieve maximum

Daesans OMEGA plant in Korea in 2008.

process selectivity, explains Rots.

The Petro Rabigh MEG plant forms part

The on-site methane was not available

of a new state-of-the-art integrated

in the early stages of the start up as it

refining and petrochemical complex

was dependent on the completion of

at the Red Sea town of Rabigh, north

other parts of the complex, and so

of Jeddah. It provided a different

was substituted with nitrogen.

challenge for the OMEGA start up

The plant was still able to achieve full

support team led by Arthur Rots, Shell

loading, however, and once the on-site

Global Solutions Design Group Leader

methane became available we were

for Ethylene Oxide/MEG.

able to complete the start up process,

In Korea, the OMEGA plant was

achieve the full selectivity and

built within an existing petrochemical

demonstrate the licence guarantees.

facility but in Rabigh everything on

External auditors, who had scrutinised

this massive complex was being

the OMEGA process during the plants

constructed from new. This meant the

engineering design phase, attended

start-up had to be carefully scheduled

the guarantee demonstration runs on

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to coincide with the completion of other

behalf of Petro Rabighs consortium

shell.com/chemicals/omega

units, when the necessary feedstocks,

of financial backers.

comfortably exceeded its design

capacity and specification.
The MEG quality was excellent and
the average plant loading around
108% - more than the guaranteed
performance level. This reconfirms
the strength of the Shell OMEGA
design and the excellent job Petro
Rabigh had done in its preparations.
Shigeo Niimi, Petro Rabighs MEG
Plant Section Head, adds: The fast
and smooth start up of the MEG
plant reflects the close co-operation
with Shell for this project and
demonstrates our commitment to
using leading-edge technologies.

utilities and ancillary chemicals became

available, he explains.
The Petro Rabigh complex sits on
a 3,000-acre site with a production
capacity of 130 million bbl per year
of refined products and 2.4 million
tons per year of petrochemical products.
It represents an investment of over $10
billion dollars and is a strategic part
of the diversification of Saudi Arabias
oil- and gas-based industries. Petro
Rabigh is a Saudi company with Saudi
Aramco and Sumitomo Chemicals as
major shareholders.
Due to the scale of the investment there
was a high priority on making assets
operational as soon as possible. In order
to bring the MEG plant onstream on
schedule a multi-stage start up process

Arthur Rots, Shell Global Solutions Design Group Leader for Ethylene Oxide/MEG -

was used to fit in with the overall project.

Petro Rabighs phased start up provided a different challenge for his team.

SHELL CHEMICALS MAGAZINE

AUTUMN/WINTER 2009

19