Abdulhakim Al-Gouhi was appointed to the post of President and Managing Director of Sasref (Saudi Aramco and Shell Refinery) in February.

“It is a great honour for me to take on this leading role of a company which is one of the cornerstones of Saudi Arabias’s refining industry and to be able to work in partnership with Shell, one of the world’s leading international oil companies,” he said. “My last job, as Manager of the Crude Oil Sales & Marketing Department of Saudi Aramco, brought me into frequent contact with Sasref so I know the company well.”

With 26 years’ experience with Saudi Aramco, he has had a diversified career, working in oil and gas production, downstream operations involving terminals, refining supply planning, transportation, marketing and joint venture management and co-ordination.

“At Sasref we have begun a major planned turnaround of activities which will involve a shutdown of the Aromatics and Distillation Complex 1 to execute a comprehensive maintenance programme. To date, all the necessary preparation work and pre-shutdown operations have been completed to ensure that things proceed as planned.

“There are still challenges that the execution teams will have to overcome, such as ensuring quality standards are met and that the turnaround is completed without any LTIs [Lost Time Incidents] or environmental incidents - and that it is on time and to budget,” he concludes.