Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company (PetroRabigh) is on track to start up new units in the fourth quarter after a $10 billion overhaul,
PetroRabigh's chief executive said on Thursday.

PetroRabigh is a joint venture between state oil giant Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemicals. The two paired up in 2005 to upgrade what was a simple 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) oil refinery and add a petrochemical complex.

"The whole system will be online before the end of the year," Saad Al-Dosari told Reuters by telephone.

All of the petrochemical and refined oil products that the refinery will produce have been marketed, Dosari said.

Aramco will sell the oil products, while Sumitomo will market the petrochemical output of the joint venture, he said.

After the upgrade, the refinery will have capacity to produce 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline, up from none.

Fuel oil production and exports will slow as the new units convert the dirty leftovers of refining into higher value products, he said.

"We will of course have less fuel oil exports," he said. "We're upgrading the refinery to convert fuel oil into other products." Dosari declined to give more precise dates for the start up of the new units.

On Wednesday, a source familiar with the project said the gasoline making unit would come online in late September or early October.-Reuters