Saudi Aramco`s Shell Refinery Company Upgrades Control Facilities

JUBAIL, January 16, 2010, SPA -- Saudi Aramco's Shell Refinery Co. (SASREF)
recently inaugurated its refurbished Central Control Room and the
Instrumentation Master Plan (IMP) Project.

In an address at the opening ceremony held recently, SASREF's Chairman Abdul
Rahman F. Al-Wuhaib said he hoped SASREF’s “leading-edge technology,
optimal utilization and obsolescence abatement will further boost its
international competitiveness as a firmly established pacesetter refinery.”

The IMP project, according to SASREF president Abdulhakim Al-Gouhi, is to
ensure reliable operations and to inspire best-in-class achievement and
performance in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions.

IMP project manager Ahmad Al-Abdrabbuh said IMP major accomplishments include
the replacement of SASREF’s obsolete relay-based Instrumented Protective
System (or safeguarding system) and relevant field instruments, the replacement
of SASREF’s obsolete Distributed Control System, the replacement of other
obsolete stand-alone automation systems and applications, and integration of
the new facilities with the upgraded systems and instruments from prior stages
of the IMP.

SASREF is a 50/50 joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Shell. It is an export
refinery where Arabian Light Crude is upgraded into high-quality refined
products, including kerosene, naphtha, benzene, fuel oil and liquefied
petroleum gas. It has a production capacity of 305,000 barrels per day.

--SPA