Saudi Aramco Yanbu Refinery — Saudi Arabia

Saudi Aramco Yanbu Refinery is a refinery in Saudi Arabia. Its listed capacity is 230,000 BBL per day. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery. It is operated by Saudi Arabian Oil Co. By capacity it ranks #4 among 5 oil refineries in Saudi Arabia. It emits about 2,412,932 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 2.9% of the CO₂e from the 47 facilities in Saudi Arabia that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 22% above the national median for this sector.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-40040650.

In context: how this facility compares

At 230,000 BBL per day, Saudi Aramco Yanbu Refinery is below the median refinery in Saudi Arabia (305,000 BBL per day). Subsector: oil-and-gas-refining. As refinery, it requires high process heat (typically 200–600°C) for its core industrial operations, supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery.

Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.

What 2,412,932 t CO₂e a year looks like

This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:

Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.

Capacity vs largest oil refineries in Saudi Arabia

Listed capacity (BBL per day), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).

Operator

Operated by Saudi Arabian Oil Co. All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

Saudi Aramco Yanbu Refinery sits in a hot desert climate zone (Köppen BWh), at 24.0°N in the northern hemisphere.

Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).

Site climate & environmental severity

This site sits in an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt corrosion the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1221 W/m² to ambient — roughly 0.94× the loss at a 20 °C reference. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby sites

The #4 largest of 5 oil refineries in Saudi Arabia by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• YASREF Yanbu Refinery · Refinery · 3,444,326 t CO₂
• Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (Yansab), Yanbu, · Petrochemical · 1,855,025 t CO₂
• SAMREF Yanbu Refinery · Refinery
• Yanbu Petrochemical Co. (Yanpet), Yanbu, · Petrochemical · 2,150,754 t CO₂
• Al Nabah Cement Plant · Cement Plant · 3,461,521 t CO₂
• Petro Rabigh, Rabigh, · Petrochemical · 2,316,872 t CO₂

Location

Coordinates 23.95608, 38.29225. View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions