Refinery Planning Economist

About Saudi Aramco

Saudi Aramco is a global producer of hydrocarbon energy and chemicals, headquartered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company operates with a long-term view, leveraging decades of experience in managing the Kingdom’s hydrocarbon resources to deliver societal and economic benefits globally.

The Role of Refinery Planning Economist

Saudi Aramco is seeking a Refinery Planning Economist to join the Asset Optimization Division, part of the Global Optimizer Department. This full-time role focuses on optimizing crude allocation and the operations of global manufacturing facilities to maximize revenue, increase profitability, and identify international market opportunities. The division also manages the linear programming (LP) models for wholly-owned refineries and the integrated global MPIMS model, which is essential for optimizing global crude allocation and exploring new international markets.

Key Responsibilities

The primary responsibility of the Refinery Planning Economist is to collaborate with refineries, Aramco Trading Company (ATC), and the Global Optimizer team to optimize refinery crude allocation, crude mix, and product slates. This includes developing, monitoring, and executing the monthly short operating plan. Specific duties include:

• Leading local Linear Programming (LP) runs at individual refineries to drive commercial optimization, focusing on generating crude relative values and rankings.
• Analyzing major constraints impacting asset logistics and unit performance to identify investment ideas and challenging existing LP output limits.
• Working with ATC to integrate Saudi Aramco’s market perspectives into individual asset LPs and assessing sales opportunities for intermediate feedstocks, blendstocks, and components.
• Fostering collaboration among asset economists within regions to consolidate LPs, identify inter-site optimization opportunities, and represent refinery interests during trade-off evaluations.
• Contributing to the development of yearly business plans by providing insights into market trends and refinery operations outlook.
• Executing short-term optimization opportunities within production months, coordinating efforts across refineries, ATC, and the central optimization team.
• Evaluating the strategic and commercial viability of potential investments aimed at enhancing overall system efficiency and profitability, and leading asset profit improvement studies.
• Mentoring junior economists and modelers in optimization principles and leading practices.

Qualifications and Experience

Candidates for this position should possess expertise in refinery operations, market dynamics, commercial capabilities, and linear programming modeling. A minimum of 10 years of experience is required.

Required Skills

• Proficiency in Linear Programming (LP) modeling and analysis.
• Strong analytical skills to assess constraints and identify optimization opportunities.
• Understanding of market dynamics and commercial aspects in the energy sector.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with diverse teams and stakeholders.
• Capability to develop and execute short-term operating plans.

Work Environment

This role is based in Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, within a division focused on global asset optimization. The position involves working closely with various internal departments and external partners to achieve strategic objectives.