Page 16 - DMEA Week 38

DMEA REFINING DMEA

STAR refinery goes cold on Urals

TURKEY THE STAR oil refinery in western Turkey has “John Sverdrup gives you better yields, it has
sharply cut back on purchases of Russia’s flagship less sulphur content than Urals. Basra is also bet-
The STAR oil refinery Urals grade oil this year, resorting to cheaper ter value,” one trader at a Mediterranean plant
has switched to crude supplies from Iraq and Norway instead, Reuters told the news agency. “Urals is currently the
from Norway and Iraq. reported on September 24. worse value for money among the three.”
Urals soared to a record premium of $2 per According to Refinitiv Eikon, STAR bought
barrel over dated Brent this summer, as Russian no Urals at all in either August or so far this
oil grew scarcer because of OPEC+ cuts. This month. The refinery took 6.1mn tonnes (122,500
prompted some refiners to switch to alternative bpd) of Urals in 2019, which meant that Turkey
supplies, according to Reuters. was one of the major importers of Russian oil in
Competition is growing, especially since the the Mediterranean. But its purchases this year
Johan Sverdrup oilfield began exporting crude have slumped to 1.2mn tonnes.
last year. The 470,000 barrel per day (bpd) field SOCAR opened the STAR refinery in west-
enjoys operating costs of less than $2 per barrel. ern Izmir Province in 2018, after investing some
The 210,000 bpd STAR refinery is taking oil $6bn in its construction. The Azeri national oil
from Sverdrup along with Iraqi Basra oil, which company (NOC) has said it is considering build-
are both similar to Urals, along with the lighter ing a second one at Aliaga on Turkey’s central
CPC Blend from Kazakhstan, Reuters reported. Aegean coast. ™

PETROCHEMICALS

Lummus picked for Duqm

petchem technologies

OMAN US tech firm Lummus has been hired to supply Lummus did not say how much the con-
technologies for a series of petrochemical units tract was worth, nor disclose a timeframe for
The complex will at Oman’s eastern port of Duqm. its work.
feature ethylene, NGL Duqm Refinery & Petrochemical Industries The Duqm project primarily consists of a
extraction, butadiene (DRPIC) – a joint venture between Oman’s OQ 230,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery that will
extraction and butane and Kuwait Petroleum, has awarded a master produce naphtha, jet fuel, diesel and LPG. It will
separation units. licensing contract to Lummus. The contract cov- be fitted with hydrocracking, hydrotreating,
ers technologies for NGL extraction, butadiene delayed coking, sulphur recovery, hydrogen
extraction and combined methyl tertiary butyl generation and Merox treating units, and other
ether (MTBE)-1-Butene separation. facilities.
In addition to technology licensing and Its petrochemicals facilities include a 1.6mn
process design, Lummus will also supply its tonne per year ethylene unit, 48mn cubic metre
proprietary short residence time (SRT) pyrol- per day of NGL extraction capacity, a 161,000
ysis cracking heater, proprietary catalysts and tpy butadiene extraction unit and a combined
equipment, and provide training and advisory MTBE-1butane separation unit.
services, it said. DRPIC has said it hopes to launch initial test
“Our customers benefit from our compre- runs at the $6bn project by the end of 2021, but
hensive technology portfolio, as we provide it has not said when its petrochemicals capacity
them with multiple technologies for one project, will be commissioned. As of August, the overall
combining and integrating these technologies, development was 68.4% complete, DRPIC said
proprietary equipment, catalyst and services,” earlier this month.
Lummus CEO Leon de Bruyn said. “This helps Another major downstream investment in
our customers reduce their capital and operat- Oman is the $6.7bn Liwa Plastics Industrial
ing costs and assures them that they are work- Complex in the port of Sohar. Production is due
ing with an aligned project team that minimises to start up later this year, OQ’s downstream CEO
interfaces.” Ahmed Saleh al Jahdhami said.™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 24•September•2020