Ethane cracking in the age of sustainability: Strategies for emissions reduction

Wael Al-Blaies has worked for 19 yr at Saudi Aramco, focusing on multiple engineering and project management projects. He earned a chemical engineering degree and an MS degree in risk management and process safety from Heriot-Watt University. Al-Blaies has assumed several leadership positions in the company since 2016, including Supervisor of the Flare, Gas Processing and Flow Assurance group, Division Manager of downstream process engineering and H2 systems engineering divisions and Fourth Industrial Revolution Center. He now works as the Manager of the Liquid-to-Chemical Program Technical Support Division.

Khaled Alshehri is a seasoned technical expert with > 10 yr of experience in the oil and gas industry. He earned an MS degree in chemical engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and an MBA from Swiss Business School. With a strong background in central engineering, Alshehri has provided critical support to refinery operations and projects, leveraging his technical expertise to drive business growth and optimization. Notably, he has played a key role in the pre-commissioning, commissioning and startup of major refineries, including the Yasref and Jazan refineries. Alshehri serves as a Supervisor of Project Engineering in the Liquid-to-Chemical Program Technical Support Division, where he is applying his technical and business acumen to deliver project excellence with a unique blend of technical expertise and business savvy. 

Ibrahim Alabbas is a chemical engineer with > 7 yr of experience at Saudi Aramco, specializing in petroleum refining, with a focus on hydroprocessing units. Throughout his career, he has played a key role in major industrial initiatives and is currently contributing to one of the largest liquids-to-chemicals projects in the Middle East. Alabbas has also led multiple corporate-wide decarbonization initiatives, where he jointly developed an innovative in-house solution known as Emissions Management System (EMS). EMS is a tool designed to monitor and abate carbon emissions across operations with > 100 facilities.   

Subhabrata Guru has > 33 yr of experience in the oil and gas industry. He started his professional journey in 1991 as a process engineer in a naphtha cracker plant in India, followed by various positions in several business functions in petrochemicals and refinery business units. Along the way, he has cultivated expertise in project conceptualization and evaluation, operational excellence, digitalization initiatives, financial modeling and strategic planning. He possesses experience in managing the complete lifecycle of major projects, from initial concept to successful commissioning. Guru earned a BTech degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, and an MBA in strategic planning from Nanyang Business School, Singapore.