Page 11 - DMEA Week 11 2022
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DMEA PIPELINES DMEA
KNPC opens new LNG line at Al-Ahmadi
MIDDLE EAST DOWNSTREAM-FOCUSED Kuwait National KNPC, a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum
Petroleum Co. (KNPC) has begun the operation Corp. (KPC), launched full operations on the
of a fifth LNG pipeline at its 346,000 barrel per CFP in September following a lengthy develop-
day (bpd) Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery. ment process.
The company’s CEO, Waleed al-Bader, said Mina al-Ahmadi has faced issues since the
the line has increased the facility’s gas and con- project’s completion, with major fires in October
densate handling capabilities by 805mn cubic and January leading to injuries and loss of life.
feet (22.8mn cubic metres) and 106,000 bpd Elsewhere in the country, fellow KPC affil-
respectively. This raises capacity by around 30% iate Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries
to 3.125bn cubic feet (88.5mn cubic metres) per Co. (KIPIC) is in the process of commissioning
day of gas and 332,000 bpd of condensates from the new Al-Zour refinery which it was set up to
the five pipelines. manage.
KNPC said that the installation of the new Adding a further 615,000 bpd to Kuwait’s
line reflects its goal of increasing the production refining capacity, the project is estimated to cost
of profitable derivatives that comply with inter- around $16.1bn, including the cost of associated
national standards. petrochemical and LNG facilities.
Al-Bader said that gas derivatives are con- Once complete, Al-Zour will take Kuwait’s
sidered KNPC’s best products, as they are both throughput capacity to 1.415mn bpd, while
environmentally friendly and profitable. the country has previously spoken of plans to
Meanwhile, the refinery’s chairman, Shujaa achieve 2mn bpd.
al-Ajmi, said that the new line supports the Mina Reports in January said that commissioning
al-Ahmadi’s ability to treat gas associated with oil of the facility’s hydrogen unit had been com-
production as well as its production of methane, pleted with a 49,000 tonne cargo of naphtha
ethane, propane, butane and natural gasoline. He delivered for use in commissioning.
added that the line includes a secondary unit that Al-Zour is also home to a new regasifica-
produces clean fuel gas. tion terminal, LNG Import (LNGI), which has
The refinery has recently undergone a major a capacity of 22mn tonnes per year (tpy). LNGI
upgrade under Kuwait’s $15.6bn Clean Fuels has eight storage tanks with a capacity of 225,000
Project (CFP), which raised combined through- cubic metres and a regasification facility capable
put from it and the 454,000 bpd Mina Abdullah of processing 3 bcm per day of gas.
refinery to 800,000 bpd, while improving envi- The facility received its first shipment of LNG
ronmental performance and facilitating the pro- from QatarEnergy last year and will receive fur-
duction of cleaner fuels in line with Euro-IV and ther cargoes under a 15-year, 3mn tpy supply
Euro-V standards. deal that began in January.
Week 11 17•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11
