Page 7 - MEOG Week 04 2023

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

KPC ships crude to Duqm ahead

of refinery commissioning

KUWAIT STATE-OWNED Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Omani News Agency reporting in November
(KPC) said this week that it recently shipped it was 96% complete. However, there is some
2mn barrels of crude to its joint venture (JV) uncertainty about exactly when it will com-
Duqm refinery in Oman ahead of the facility’s mence commercial operations. Omani officials
start-up. have regularly cited the end of Q1 for start-up,
Speaking to the local Al-Rai Arabic language however, in November, KPI CEO Shafi al-Ajmi
daily, Sheikh Khaled Ahmad Al-Sabah said that conservatively estimated that operations would
this was its first shipment to the refinery, which not begin until the end of 2023.
is being jointly developed by Kuwait Petroleum In late 2021, Saudi Aramco’s trading arm
International (KPI) and OQ under the OQ8 JV agreed with OQ to explore the potential for
entity. providing feedstock for the Duqm plant and the
Al-Sabah said that the shipment would be petchem complex and store oil at Ras Markaz.
used for testing the $8bn, 230,000-barrel per day “The parties will undertake a joint review of ATC
(bpd) unit. “The Kuwaiti foreign oil projects are supplying feedstock to Duqm Refinery & Petro-
part of the oil sector’s strategy and one of the safe chemicals Industries Company LLC (OQ8), as
outlets for Kuwaiti oil marketing,” he added, not- well as possible offtake of oil products by ATC
ing that this market would support the company from OQ8,” said a joint press release.
as it faces fierce competition elsewhere. According to the original plan, 65% of
Two weeks earlier, data analytics firm Kpler Duqm’s feedstock will be provided by Kuwait,
reported that a 1mn-barrel cargo had been with local production providing the balance.
delivered to the Ras Markaz Crude Oil Storage When it comes into operation, the refinery will
and Export Terminal near Duqm on the Oman’s produce diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and LPG, and
Al-Wusta coast on January 8. will feature units for hydrocracking, hydrotreat-
The terminal’s general manager Salem Mar- ing, delayed coking, sulphur recovery, hydrogen
hoon al Hashemi said that this crude would be generation and Merox treating.
used for test runs at Duqm. It is unclear whether Meanwhile, it will use up to 30,000 bpd of
the January 8 delivery was part of the KPC heavy crude oil to produce 1mn tonnes per year
shipment. of bitumen, as well as 600,000 tpy of naphtha,
The refinery is nearing completion with the distillates and vacuum gas oil (VGO).™

Week 04 25•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P7