Page 16 - DMEA Week 02 2021
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DMEA REFINING DMEA
Iraq doubles capacity of
Sumood oil refinery
IRAN IRAQ has nearly doubled the capacity of the capacity to 280,000 bpd. Japan’s JGC was hired in
Sumood oil refinery in Baiji to 140,000 barrels August to build fluid catalytic cracking, vacuum
Iraq has had difficulty per day (bpd) following rehabilitation work, its distillation and diesel desulphurisation units at
financing downstream oil ministry said on January 11. the site for $3.75bn.
projects. Sumood was once Iraq’s second-largest refin- Iraq’s oil ministry also said in September
ery, operating at a throughput rate of 310,000 it planned to build new processing units at its
bpd. But it was severely damaged during the ISIS 20,000 bpd Qayara refinery in the north of
invasion and occupation beginning in 2014, and the country, lifting its capacity to 90,000 bpd.
again when it was retaken by Iraqi government The plant had been running on heavy oil from
troops in 2015. Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar the nearby Qayara oilfield but is no longer in
said in September that its working capacity was operation.
only 75,000 bpd. Iraq has unveiled a raft of new refining
In a statement, the ministry said the plant projects in recent years, in an effort to expand
would be restored to its previous capacity of fuel production and reduce its import bill. But
280,000 bpd. This will require significant repairs most of these schemes have failed to secure
at its 170,000-bpd Northern Plant unit. The gov- investment.
ernment has optimistically set a completion date Only one greenfield project in Iraq’s south,
for this work of 2023. the 140,000 bpd Karbala refinery, has progressed,
Iraq’s only fully functional refinery is the many because it has been funded entirely from
210,000 bpd Shuaiba plant near Basra, which the Iraqi budget. It was first conceived in 2007
is undergoing expansion work that will raise its and is not expected on stream until 2023.
LNG
Drilling resumes at Mozambique’s
Coral FLNG
MOZAMBIQUE THE developers of the $7bn Coral floating hull was finished in January 2020.
LNG (FLNG) project off Mozambique have Eni operates Coral FLNG on behalf of
Coral FLNG will be the resumed drilling, the East African coun- its MRZ partners, which besides ExxonMo-
first Mozambique LNG try’s regulator has said, after an eight-month bil include China National Petroleum Corp.
project to start up in break because of coronavirus (COVID-19) (CNPC), Portugal’s Galp, South Korea’s KOGAS
2022. restrictions. and Mozambique’s national oil company (NOC)
The Instituto Nacional de Petroleo (INP) said ENH. The partners took a final investment deci-
the authorities had been informed by Mozam- sion (FID) on the plan in 2017.
bique Rovuma Venture (MRZ), a consortium led ExxonMobil is also leading the 15.2mn tpy
by ExxonMobil and Italy’s Eni, that the Saipem Rovuma LNG project which will also draw from
12000 drillship had arrived in Pemba on Janu- Area 4’s 2.4 trillion cubic metre resource base.
ary 5. Drilling had started in September 2019 But the US major has held off on taking an FID
but was halted in April last year after restrictions in light of the pandemic’s impact on the global
were put in place to prevent the pandemic’s gas market.
spread. France’s Total and its partners are targeting a
Coral FLNG, situated in the offshore Area 4 2024 launch for their 13.1mn tpy Mozambique
concession, will be the first among several LNG LNG project, which will use gas from the Area
projects planned in northern Mozambique to 1 concession neighbouring Area 4. But there
start production. INP noted that the venture was are rising security concerns about the project
still on track for first gas in 2022. following a series of attacks by Islamists. Total is
The plant will produce 3.4mn tonnes per year reported to have evacuated some of its workers
(tpy) of LNG. Eni reported in November that the at the site this month after a strike by militants
topsides for the FLNG had been completed. Its within the project concession area.
P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 02 14•January•2021
