Page 12 - GLNG Week 11 2022

GLNG MIDDLE EAST GLNG

KNPC opens new LNG line at Al-Ahmadi

PIPELINES & DOWNSTREAM-FOCUSED Kuwait National KNPC, a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum
TRANSPORT 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 Octo-
densate handling capabilities by 805mn cubic ber and January leading to injuries and loss of
feet (22.8mn cubic metres) and 106,000 bpd life.
respectively. This raises capacity by around 30% Elsewhere in the country, fellow KPC affili-
to 3.125bn cubic feet (88.5mn cubic metres) per ate Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Co.
day of gas and 332,000 bpd of condensates from (KIPIC) is in the process of commissioning the
the five pipelines. new Al-Zour refinery which it was set up to man- Al-Zour is also
KNPC said that the installation of the new age. 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 home to a new
of profitable derivatives that comply with inter- around $16.1bn, including the cost of associated
national standards. petrochemical and LNG facilities. regasification
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 terminal, LNG
environmentally friendly and profitable. the country has previously spoken of plans to Import (LNGI),
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 which has a
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 capacity of 22mn
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- tonnes per year.
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.™

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