Page 10 - DMEA Week 19 2021
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DMEA REFINING DMEA
Fire engulfs Syria’s
Homs refinery
MIDDLE EAST A fire broke out at a 100,000 barrel per day (bpd) seven oil tankers catching fire during loading.
refinery in the western Syrian province of Homs Various other incidents have also been
at the weekend, taking one of its four crude dis- reported, including fires on an oil tanker docked
tillation units (CDUs) out of service. at the coastal town of Baniyas that had been used
With the country’s official Syrian Arab News to transport Iranian crude, as tensions between
Agency (SANA) quoted Oil Minister Bassam Israel and Iran coincided with attacks on vessels
Tomeh as saying on May 9 that “90% of the fire belonging to both nations.
had been extinguished”, noting there had been Syria’s other refinery, a 135,000 bpd unit at
no casualties, state TV announced a day later that Baniyas, suffered an explosion in late 2019, and
the fire had been fully put out. has been operating well below capacity for sev-
Suleiman Mohammed, head of the Homs Oil eral years.
Refinery, told local TV stations that the fire had Prior to the outbreak of civil war in 2011,
been caused by crude leaking from one of the several planned refineries had received the
pump stations, and while he reiterated that there go-ahead, including a 100,000 bpd facility at Abu
had been no injuries, he noted that some damage Khashab backed by China National Petroleum
had been caused to the facility. The fire appears to Corp. (CNPC).
have centred around CDU 100. With the majority of Syrian oil production
The incident marked the second fire at the in the hands of separatist or jihadist groups, the
refinery in little more than a month, following administration in Damascus has become reli-
a fire at another of the CDUs, unit 21, in early ant on shipments from Iran, though these have
April. been increasingly targeted as the US and Israel
Meanwhile, a large explosion occurred in continue to turn the screw on the sanctions-hit
January at a nearby crude loading station, with administrations.
P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 19 13•May•2021
