Page 7 - AsianOil Week 29 2022

AsianOil COMMENTARY AsianOil

Waiting for Al-Zour “As of today, we don’t see a lack of oil in the
Maritime fuel markets are set to receive a market. There is a lack of refining capacity,
boost with the commissioning of Kuwait’s new which is also an issue, so we need to invest more
Al-Zour mega refinery, which will have a capac- in refining capacity,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al
ity of 615,000 bpd. Saud said during a visit to Tokyo.
One of the refinery’s three 205,000 bpd crude New and expanded refining capacity is
distillation units (CDUs) started up in June and expected to come on stream over the next
will be fully commissioned over the next couple few months across Africa and the Middle
of months, with the second and third CDUs to East, which is seen adding around 3.8mn
be commissioned in October and December, as bpd, but much of this is predicted to be uti-
the facility ramps up towards full capacity. lised rapidly.
The plant is seen providing around 1mn Saudi Arabia is investing heavily to enhance
tonnes per month of 0.5% or 0.1% sulphur majority state-owned Saudi Aramco’s capabili-
marine fuel, VLSFO and LSFO. This volume ties in both the up- and downstream, but it has
of output is around the same level currently repeatedly called on other nations and IOCs
produced by all of the refining units around to increase their own investments. Aramco’s
the Mediterranean and is seen being available president and CEO Amin Nasser and other Russian crude
around the same time Russian refined prod- officials have been among the most outspoken
ucts are taken out of circulation for European about the industry’s lack of investment in the is going in the
customers. upstream. While maintaining the company’s opposite direction
Last month, Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) global “pre-eminence” in the upstream, it does
CEO said that his company has been receiv- not serve Aramco or Saudi Arabia well to have via ports in
ing interest from European buyers regarding to tap strategic spare capacity.
refined products ahead of the refinery’s launch. The company also has a gross domestic the Baltic and
“We’re getting more calls for products … By the refining capacity of 3.15mn bpd – 2.4mn bpd
end of the year, we’ll have about 615,000 barrels net – across its wholly owned and domestic the Black Sea,
of oil a day being converted into mostly diesel joint venture facilities, with another 1.43mn supplying China
and very low sulphur fuel oil,” he said. bpd of net capacity at international JV facilities
“Right now there is a tremendously good in China, Japan, Poland, South Korea and the and India.
market for fuel oil, and whether it’s bunker or US, with developments and investment plans in
diesel or whatnot. And we’ll use that. We will train to add several hundred thousand barrels
supply the world with that,” he told Bloomberg. to this figure.
Prince Faisal also spoke of Russia’s impor-
Blame game tance to oil market stability. “Russia is an inte-
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister has gral part of OPEC+, and without co-operation
called for greater investment in the conversion of in OPEC+ as a collective, it would be impossible
oil into products, but said crude supplies are not to properly ensure adequate supplies of oil to the
in short supply. international markets,” he said.™

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