Page 5 - DMEA Week 38 2021
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DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA
Refinery Gross Capacity (kbpd) Equity Net Capacity (kbpd)
Mina Al-Ahmadi 346 100.0% 346
Mina Abdullah 454 100.0% 454
Al-Zour* 615 100.0% 615
Domestic Wholly-Owned 1,415 1,415
Duqm* 230 50.0% 115
Nghi Son 200 35.1% 70.2
Sino-Kuwait Guangdong 200 50.0% 100
Milazzo 235 50.0% 117.5
International JVs 865 402.70
Total 2,280 1,817.70
Source: IGM Energy
overseas refining footprint, aligning with a trend strengthen bilateral co-operation, including the
popular among the Gulf Co-operation Council’s development of a refinery in the South Asian
(GCC) top oil producers. country.
KPC subsidiary Kuwait Petroleum Inter- Following the meeting at the United Nations
national (Q8) is a 50:50 partner with Oman’s HQ in New York, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister
state-owned OQ in the OQ8 company which AK Abdul Momen said: “It was a fruitful meet-
is developing the 230,000 bpd integrated refin- ing. The Kuwaiti prime minister thinks Bang-
ery and petrochemicals complex at Duqm on ladesh and Kuwait will develop a roadmap and
Oman’s Al-Wusta coast. design actionable programmes in the next five
Sources close to the development told Down- years to strengthen our bilateral ties. He wants to
stream MEA (DMEA) this week that the project co-operate on various projects as well.”
is nearing 90% completion ahead of the start of He added: “Kuwait has planned an initiative
commissioning late this year or in early 2022. to build an oil refinery in Bangladesh and the
When it comes into operation, the refinery prime minister agreed to provide them land for
will produce diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and LPG, the refinery.”
and will feature units for hydrocracking, hydro- Aside from the Duqm facility, Q8 holds
treating, delayed coking, sulphur recovery, stakes in refineries in Vietnam, China and Italy,
hydrogen generation and Merox treating. 65% comprising the Nghi Son refinery, the Sino-Ku-
of its feedstock will be provided by Kuwait, with wait Guangdong Integrated Refinery & Petro-
local production furnishing the balance. chemical complex and Sicily’s Milazzo refinery.
Meanwhile, it will use up to 30,000 bpd of According to a research note by consultancy
heavy crude oil to produce 1mn tpy of bitumen, IGM Energy, once the Al-Zour and Duqm refin-
as well as 600,000 tpy of naphtha, distillates and eries are complete, KPC and its subsidiaries will
vacuum gas oil. have a net global refining capacity of 1.82mn
It will initially be dedicated to processing bpd, sufficient to process around 75% of the
crude oil from the tanks Ras Markaz storage Emirate’s current 2.43mn bpd crude production
facility, which is being developed to the south of level.
Duqm. In its first phase, Ras Markaz will feature The company has also been perennially
an impressive 25mn barrel storage capacity over linked with moves to enter the Indian refin-
an area of 10 square km, expanding to 200mn ing sector, notably through the acquisition of a
barrels on a 40-square km site over several stages stake in either the 120,000 bpd Bina refinery in
of work. Madhya Pradesh State or in its operator Bharat
The project is being developed by OQ sub- Oman Refineries Ltd (BORL).
sidiary Oman Tank Terminal Co. (OTTCO) and Kuwait has faced greater challenges than
will be linked to the Duqm Special Economic other GCC states in the wake of the coronavirus
Zone via an 80-km pipeline that has already been (COVID-19) pandemic, rushing to slash budgets
completed. There are also plans to connect the and tapping into its $700bn Future Generations
storage park to the Main Oil Line via a 130-km, Fund. However, the Emirate is highly reliant on
42-inch (1,067-mm) pipeline to Nahada in cen- oil exports and it has shown little willingness to
tral Oman and another 230-km line to channel embrace the energy transition.
crude from Saih Nihayda to Ras Markaz. As concerns about future demand for crude
and products continue to grow, much like neigh-
Downstream with Dhaka bour Saudi Arabia, Kuwait’s interests could be
Meanwhile, Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh best served by establishing more dedicated crude
Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah met with his Bang- offtake outlets, sheltering it from future volatility
ladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina to discuss in global oil markets.
Week 38 23•September•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P5
