About Company

RAS TANURA, Saudi Arabia — From the most humble of origins, Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura Refinery has evolved and grown over the last six decades into one of the most celebrated industrial complexes in the Arabian Gulf region. The enormous facility has a cornucopia of capabilities. It’s a self-sufficient source of local energy, a sophisticated distillation facility, a natural gas liquids (NGL) industrial unit and a crude stabilization plant capable of meeting ever-changing global energy requirements. “Ras Tanura Refinery has expanded to meet the needs of the Kingdom, the community and the world,” explained Ibrahim K. Al-Naimi, manager of the Refinery Operations Department. “Not only is it a complete refinery, but beyond that, it has NGL fractionalization and crude stabilization facilities.

Birth of a Refinery

In 1943, representatives from America’s Petroleum Administration for War traveled to Saudi Arabia looking for some way to relieve the enormous drain on U.S. oil fields created by the Allied efforts in World War II. Commercially viable quantities of oil had been discovered in the region a few years earlier, and the U.S. government’s plan was to construct a 50,000-bpd refinery plus associated facilities for better access to the Kingdom’s rich assets. Ras Tanura, a tiny Eastern Province camp on the Arabian Gulf built by Saudi Aramco forerunner California Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC), was the obvious choice for the refinery. A simple “tea-kettle” refinery had been put up there two years earlier and had processed 3,000 bpd of Saudi Arabian crude for six months before being shut down in June 1941 due to the war. Since then, the camp — which had grown to include several family cottages and employee bunkhouses, a movie theater and recreation hall, a water tank, mess hall and temporary clinic — had been nearly abandoned as the wartime workforce fell to fewer than 100 Americans and 2,000 Arabs. Although the new refinery’s location was obvious, how it would be funded was not. The idea of the U.S. government participating in private industry was unacceptable to most Americans and especially to the U.S. oil industry. In the end, it was decided that CASOC owners would finance the construction themselves, with the American government helping them obtain — and transport — the hard-to-find steel, building supplies, heavy equipment and manpower needed to construct a world-class refinery in the midst of wartime shortages and governmental prioritization. Planning began almost immediately, and by 1944 when CASOC was renamed the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco), actual construction had turned quiet Ras Tanura and neighboring Najmah — where construction workers were housed — into hives of activity. Construction had also returned Ras Tanura’s original “tea kettle” distillery to service, supplying products needed to power equipment used in the new refinery’s construction. Despite scarcity and hardship, including the sinking of a shipload of critical supplies by enemy forces, the Ras Tanura Refinery was completed on time and placed in partial operation in late September 1945. Gladys Champion Stapleton, wife of Vic Stapleton, Aramco’s management coordinator and the driving force behind the refinery’s completion, lit the ceremonial fire putting the 50,000-bpd facility online. By December of that year, just five months after the close of World War II, the refinery was in full operation.

Growth of a Refinery

With the end of military hostilities, worldwide demand for the refinery’s products skyrocketed. By the end of 1945, Ras Tanura Refinery was exceeding planned capacity and producing 60,000 bpd. Four years later, that volume had increased to 127,000 bpd, and just three years after that, in 1952, the facility was averaging 177,000 bpd — more than three times its original rated capacity. All of these improvements were the result of hard work, accumulated experience and continual progress, characteristics that quickly became a Ras Tanura Refinery trademark. The years after 1952 marked a period of intense expansion at Ras Tanura Refinery, as various large construction projects and facility upgrades were completed. The additions of a crude topping unit and a “Poly plant” (California Acid Film Polymerization Process plant) were finalized in 1953, and a 12,500-bpd fluid hydroformer capable of producing high-octane gasoline went live in 1955. A new diesel desulphurization unit was added in 1957, and, four years later, a special-products blending facility was constructed at the refinery complex. That same year, Ras Tanura’s refrigerated liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant became the first facility in the Middle East to make liquid propane and butane gas available in refrigerated form for export. The unit processed 4,000 bpd of propane and butane combined. Early in 1962, the billionth barrel of crude passed through Ras Tanura Refinery, marking yet another milestone in the refinery’s profitable history.

With its unmatched refining capacity, cutting-edge technology, and commitment to sustainability, Ras Tanura continues to be a pillar of Saudi Arabia’s energy sector. The refinery’s contributions go beyond meeting domestic and international fuel demands—it is a key driver of industrial development, economic growth, and environmental responsibility. Saudi Aramco’s continuous investment in clean fuels, advanced refining processes, and cutting-edge infrastructure ensures that Ras Tanura remains at the forefront of global energy transformation.