Page 9 - DMEA Week 19 2021

DMEA REFINING DMEA

Mina Abdullah runs into issues

following hydrocracker launch

MIDDLE EAST DOWNSTREAM-FOCUSED Kuwait National Abdullah in December.
Petroleum Corp. (KNPC) this week said it had All CFP works have now been completed at
suspended units at its Mina Abdullah refinery, Mina Al-Ahmadi, with the remaining work at
noting though that production was unaffected. Mina Abdullah expected to be completed in July.
A KNPC statement was provided to state- Meanwhile, the new 615,000 bpd Al-Zour
owned Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that said refinery is tabbed to begin first refining opera-
that emergency protocols had been followed to tions in November, having reached 97.83% com-
halt these operations following a stoppage in the pletion as of the end of February.
steam generation units. The progress was announced by the country’s
Ahed Al-Khurayif, KNPC’s deputy CEO Minister of Oil and Minister of Higher Educa-
for administrative and commercial affairs, told tion Dr Muhammad Al-Fares, who said that the
KUNA that the company’s teams were work- first mini refining unit will begin operations in
ing to resume operations at these units and November, as it gradually ramps up ahead of
restore the full capacity of the refinery as soon being fully operational at the end of Q1 2022.
as possible. The project, which once commissioned, will
He noted that exports are continuing as be the Middle East’s largest refinery to have been
scheduled and have not been affected by the sus- built in a single stage, is a key part of the emirate’s
pension of the units. plans to expand its downstream capabilities.
In early May, Petrofac announced the suc- The refinery at the southern port of Al-Zour
cessful completion of the 50,000 barrel per day is being developed by Kuwait Integrated Petro-
(bpd) hydrocracking unit 214 at Mina Abdullah. leum Industries Co. (KIPIC), a subsidiary of state
The unit, Kuwait’s second largest hydrocracker, oil firm Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC).
will upgrade heavy gas oil fractions into lighter Al-Fares said that a biofuel project is being
products by using catalysts and hydrogen, ena- gradually implemented at both refineries, with
bling the production of ultra-low sulphur fuel the combined completion rate of the facilities
products, including Euro 5 diesel, kerosene and having reached 99.29%.
jet fuel, naphtha and LPG. The CFP and Al-Zour projects are estimated
The unit is part of Kuwait’s Clean Fuels Pro- to cost $15.7bn and $16.1bn respectively, with
ject (CFP), which comprises the upgrade and the latter figure including the cost of associated
expansion of Mina Abdullah and the Mina LNG facilities.
al-Ahmadi refinery to a combined capacity of KNPC has plans in place to more than double
800,000 bpd. A 264,000 bpd crude distillation its refining capacity to 2mn bpd by 2035 under a
unit (CDU) was brought on stream at Mina $25bn plan.™

Week 19 13•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9