Refinery Planning Economist

Saudi Aramco; Saudi Arabia; On-site; SAR 350,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Saudi Aramco is seeking a Refinery Planning Economist to join the Asset Optimization Division under the Global Optimizer Department in Saudi Arabia. The role focuses on optimizing refinery crude allocation, crude mix, and product slates, collaborating with Aramco Trading Company and regional teams to maximize profitability and asset value.

You will lead LP runs, analyze constraints, mentor junior economists, and contribute to yearly business plans.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in an Engineering discipline and experience in downstream business.
• Minimum of 12 years in downstream, including manufacturing and commercial aspects.
• Minimum of 3 years in executing LP models and economic analysis.
• Experience in refinery-chemical integration is advantageous.
• Proficiency in international business and cross-cultural practices; Mandarin/Korean helpful.

Responsibilities

• Lead local Linear Programming (LP) runs at refineries to drive optimization and provide inputs for circuit model results.
• Analyze constraints affecting asset logistics and unit performance; identify investment ideas.
• Collaborate with ATC to integrate market perspectives into LPs and assess feedstocks and blendstocks opportunities.
• Foster collaboration among asset economists to consolidate LPs and defend refinery interests.
• Contribute to yearly business plans and execute short-term optimization across refineries and central teams.
• Evaluate strategic investments to improve system efficiency and profitability; lead profit improvement studies.
• Mentor junior economists and modelers in optimization principles.

Skills

Leadership

Economic analysis

Mentoring juniors

Cross-cultural collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering

MBA desirable

Tools

Linear Programming (LP)

Job description

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Aramco occupies a special position in the global energy industry. We are one of the world’s largest producers of hydrocarbon energy and chemicals, with among the lowest Upstream carbon intensities of any major producer.

With our significant investment in technology and infrastructure, we strive to maximize the value of the energy we produce for the world along with a commitment to enhance Aramco’s value to society.

Headquartered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and with offices around the world, we combine market discipline with a generations’ spanning view of the future, born of our nine decades experience as responsible stewards of the Kingdom’s vast hydrocarbon resources. This responsibility has driven us to deliver significant societal and economic benefits to not just the Kingdom, but also to a vast number of communities, economies, and countries that rely on the vital and reliable energy that we supply.

We are one of the most profitable companies in the world, as well as amongst the top five global companies by market capitalization.

Overview

We are seeking a Refinery Planning Economist to join the Asset Optimization Division under the Global Optimizer Department.

The Asset Optimization Division’s charter is to optimize crude allocation and the operations of global manufacturing facilities in order to maximize revenue, increase profitability, and capture international market opportunities. The division also acts as the linear programming (LP) gatekeeper for wholly owned refineries and the integrated global MPIMS model, which is used for optimizing global crude allocation and exploration of new international markets and integration options.

Your primary role is to work with refineries, Aramco Trading Company (ATC) and the Global Optimizer team to optimize refinery’s crude allocation, crude mix, and products slates. With expertise in refinery operations, market dynamics, commercial capabilities, and linear programming modelling, will produce a sound plan to help ensure the highest returns of Aramco’s downstream assets; and is also accountable to develop, monitor and execute the monthly short operating plan.

Key Responsibilities

As the successful candidate you will be required to perform the following:

• Lead local Linear Programming (LP) runs at individual refineries to drive commercial optimization, focusing on generating crude relative values and rankings that inform strategic decisions. Provide inputs and review results of circuit model runs.
• Analyze major constraints impacting asset logistics and unit performance, identifying investment ideas. Challenge existing limits of LP outputs towards achieving ideal baselines.
• Work closely with ATC to integrate Saudi Aramco’s market perspectives into individual asset’s LPs. Assess intermediate feedstocks, blendstocks and component sales opportunities to further improve refinery margins after crude placement cycle.
• Foster collaboration among asset economists within regions to consolidate LPs, identify inter-site optimization opportunities, and defend refinery interests during trade-off evaluations.
• Contribute to the development of yearly business plans by providing insights into market trends and refinery operations outlook. Execute short-term optimization opportunities within production months, coordinating efforts across refineries, ATC and the central optimization team.
• Evaluate the strategic and commercial viability of potential investments aimed at enhancing the overall system’s efficiency and profitability. Lead asset’s profit improvement studies.
• Mentor junior economists and modelers in optimization principles and leading practices.
• Bachelor’s degree in an Engineering discipline; an MBA is highly desirable.
• Minimum of 12 years in the downstream business, encompassing both manufacturing and commercial aspects. Minimum of 3 years in executing LP models and economic analysis. Prior experience in Refinery-Chemical integration is advantageous.
• In-depth understanding of engineering practices, economic principles and calculation methodology. Proficiency in international business and cross-cultural professional practices is essential. Basic fluency in Mandarin or Korean would be beneficial.

Work Location and Work Schedule

Work Location: Within Saudi Arabia – To be specified in Job offer

Work Schedule: Full Time - To be specified in Job offer

Job Post Duration

Job posting end date: 12/30/2026

Working environment

Our high-performing employees are drawn by the challenging and rewarding professional, technical and industrial opportunities we offer, and are remunerated accordingly.

At Aramco, our people work on truly world-scale projects, supported by investment in capital and technology that is second to none. And because, as a global energy company, we are faced with addressing some of the world’s biggest technical, logistical and environmental challenges, we invest heavily in talent development.

We have a proud history of educating and training our workforce over many decades. Employees at all levels are encouraged to improve their sector-specific knowledge and competencies through our workforce development programs – one of the largest in the world.