Page 5 - DMEA Week 50

DMEA Commentary DMEA
US firm honeywell UOP was awarded a deal by KiPiC in July to provide technology and pro- duction systems for the facility.
in a press statement, honeywell UOP said that its proprietary technology would be imple- mented on the project. it said Al-Zour’s gasoline facility would include a 98,000 bpd residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit for production of propylene, gasoline and petrochemical aro- matics, and a UOP Selectfining unit to produce low-sulphur gasoline blending components.
in addition, two UOP Merox units will be used to treat propane for propylene production, and isobutane to make clean-fuels blending components, while an 11,800 bpd Butamer unit will convert normal butane to isobutane.
Petrochemical progress
Al-Zour’s petrochemical arm is provisionally planned to produce around 2.8mn tonnes per year (tpy) of petrochemicals. This includes 1.4mn tpy of paraxylene (PX), 940,000 tpy of polypropylene (PP) and 420,000 tpy of gasoline, with commissioning tentatively scheduled for 2024.
From the subsidiary’s creation in 2016, KiPiC was envisaged as being responsible solely for the three-project Al-Zour complex – with KnPC and Petrochemical industries Co. (PiC) main- taining their traditional roles as the country’s main refining and petrochemicals operators.
Under a long-term strategic partnership with the US’ Dow Chemical, the state petrochemicals company has developed and owns two existing olefin complexes at the historic Shuaiba down- stream hub near Kuwait City and PiC’s 2017/18
annual report calls for the development of a fourth olefins complex, comprising an ethane cracker feeding polyethylene, ethylene glycol and specialised derivatives units.
CEO Mohammed al-Farhoud told reporters on the sidelines of the Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association Forum in Dubai in late november that economic and technical feasi- bility studies for the proposed plant would be completed next year.
Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts on the Olefins iii and Aromatic ii project were due to be tendered this year, coin- ciding with the anticipated completion of front- end engineering and design (FEED) work by the UK’s Wood Group.
Speaking at a conference in February, though, KPC’s CEO hashem hashem confirmed plans to build a fourth olefins complex at an undis- closed location – for which PiC alone or through EQUATE is expected to assume the developer role.
Dow professed its intent four years ago grad- ually to reduce its Kuwaiti holdings but beyond the marginal dilution effected through the transfer of MEG Global to EQUATE, no further action has been taken.
KnPC CEO Mohammad al-Mutairi dis- closed in late 2018 that the firm intended to add sixth and seventh LPG trains at Al-Ahmadi, the first of which would be installed by 2025.
Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas is due to com- plete the fifth train – expanding total processing capacity at the site by 8.3bn cubic metres per year to 34 bcm – by the end of the first quarter under a $1.4bn EPC contract awarded in 2015. ™
Week 50 19•December•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
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