Page 10 - DMEA Week 33

DMEA REFINING DMEA

South Sudan refinery work nears completion

AFRICA SOUTH Sudanese NOC Nile Petroleum Corp. returning hard currency from selling refined
(Nilepet) announced last week that it is nearing products. There are plans in place to export
completion on work to rehabilitate the 5,000 refined products to neighbouring Ethiopia,
barrel per day (bpd) Bentiu oil refinery in the which currently relies on imports of just under
country. 2bn litres per year.
The director-general of Nilepet’s Down- Work was also ongoing on a 17,000 bpd refin-
stream Directorate, James Loteka Yugusuk, said ery in Tangrial, Upper Nile State in 2013, and it is
on August 14 that completion of the work would presumed that this unit is included in the master
allow South Sudan to reduce fuel imports. The plan. DMEA understands that restoration works
Bentiu facility in oil-rich northern Unity State began at Bentiu in December 2018, but relied
was damaged during conflict that broke out in on government support to minimise risk from
December 2013. According to Safinat, the main ongoing conflict, and Juba had anticipated the
investor in Bentiu, pre-commissioning and pro- facility to resume operations last year.
duction began in 2014, although it was subse- In 2018, local firm Trinity Energy won a con-
quently damaged during military action. tract to build an oil refinery near the Paloich oil-
The refinery’s rehabilitation falls under field, though little has been heard since.
Nilepet’s strategic 5-year master plan, which also To the north, Sudan is home to the 90,000 bpd
involves the construction of five refineries close Khartoum refinery which, according to CITAC,
to the country’s oilfields. This is expected to align will undergo maintenance in mid-September,
with previous plans to expand South Sudan’s lasting around 75 days. Khartoum is the only
total refining capacity to more than 100,000 bpd, active refinery in Sudan following the closure
though given the situation, Downstream MEA and decommissioning of the Port Sudan facility
(DMEA) sees such a target as hugely ambitious. in 2013. However, Port Sudan is the location of
Yugusuk noted that Juba currently relies on the planned 200,000 bpd, Red Sea Coast refinery
oil revenues for around 80% of its budget, add- proposed by Russian state-owned exploration
ing that the full operation of the refining net- firm Rosgeologia. No timeline for work on this
work would herald an era of diversified exports, facility has yet been announced.™

FUELS

Tehran refinery to produce Euro-V gasoline

MIDDLE EAST TEHRAN Oil Refinery managing director problems caused by the coronavirus situation,
Hamed Aramanfar announced this week that the the overhaul was carried out,” noting that the
facility would soon begin production of gasoline project “was completed and given strict health
compliant with Euro-V emissions standards fol- measures, no particular incident took place.”
lowing maintenance and upgrading work. Work began early last month having been
Speaking to the ILNA outlet, he said: “The postponed as a result of the coronavirus
refining is producing 7mn litres per day of (COVID-19) pandemic.
unleaded gasoline with octane ratings of 87. The maintenance at the refinery started in
However, completion of a continuous catalytic early July after being delayed by the coronavirus
reformer (CCR) unit and a reduced crude des- pandemic, IRNA reported previously.
ulphurisation (RDC) unit will enhance gasoline The refinery is now producing 53,500 barrels
quality.” (8mn litres) per day of Euro-IV and Euro-V die-
Meanwhile, Aramanfar was quoted by state sel and is transported to Tehran and the nearby
news agency IRNA as saying that gasoline Alborz province and to the northeastern city of
production at the refinery had increased by Mashad by pipeline. Meanwhile, jet A-1 fuel is
20%. He said: “With the implementation of the being transported to Tehran’s Imam Khomeini
naphtha reforming catalyst project, in addition International Airport.
to improving the quality of gasoline to Euro-V Total throughput capacity at the refinery is
norms, the production capacity has hit 8.5mn now 230,000 bpd, of which around 10,000 bar-
litres a day too.” rels are synthetic oil (gas condensates), accord-
Euro-IV and premium gasoline have octane ing to the executive.
levels of 91 and 95 respectively. The CCR and He noted that because of US sanctions
RDC units came at a total cost of $240mn and imposed on Iran, there had been issues in
are expected to increase octane levels to above producing catalysts; however, the facility has
96 and decrease benzene levels to less than 1%. now “reached full self-sufficiency in catalyst
Aramanfar noted that “despite all the supply.”™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 33 20•August•2020