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Gulf Refiners Aim For 10% Capacity Hike In 2019
...vaged fleet (MEES, 19 October). This will likely see the region’s refiners process record volumes of crude oil and condensate. Throughputs for the first 10 months of 2018 were 7.26mn b/d, a modest increase on 2017’s record high of 7.24mn b/d (see charts). GULF REFINERY INTAKE* (MN B/D) *DA...
Volume: 61Issue: 51-52Published at Fri, 21 Dec 2018 -
Lebanon’s Ailing Economy: Will The Music Stop in 2019?
...flux of infrastructure spending (capex accounted for only 7% of 2017 government spending; see table), but disbursement hinges on a host of fiscal reforms. A government has yet to be formed despite seven months of political horse-trading following May elections, thus delaying the reforms needed to un...
Volume: 61Issue: 51-52Published at Fri, 21 Dec 2018 -
Algeria Downstream Deals Reflect Sonatrach Strategy Shift
...Having ended transport fuel imports through a swaps deal, Sonatrach has bought an Italian refinery and is targeting overseas petchems. Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour has adopted a pragmatic approach to Sonatrach’s downstream strategy since taking over as CEO in early 2017. He rapidly canned th...
Volume: 61Issue: 49Published at Fri, 07 Dec 2018 -
Kuwait Launches Refining Expansion Plan, Readies For Clean Fuels Commissioning
...two 300,000 b/d refineries (MEES, 20 April). But it appears Kuwait is opting for one new plant and the expansion of existing ones. KUWAIT REFINING CAPACITY (MN B/D, END YEAR) *ASSUMES CLEAN FUELS PROJECT FULLY ONLINE IN 2019, Al-ZOUR FULLY ONLINE IN 2020. ^SHUT DOWN END-MAR 2017. SO...
Volume: 61Issue: 48Published at Fri, 30 Nov 2018 -
Oman Plots OOC-Orpic Merger, Beginning With Downstream Assets
...conventional business” to maximize gains from its geologically complex Oman assets (MEES, 9 November). OOC is looking to replicate its IOC magic once again with Italy’s Eni. The firm entered Oman in 2017 taking operatorship of the massive offshore Block 52 asset with OOC riding shotgun. The Italians are cl...
Volume: 61Issue: 47Published at Fri, 23 Nov 2018 -
IEA Report Offers Succour To Gulf Refiners’ Petchems-Focused Strategies
...Gulf NOCs have put petchems at the heart of their downstream strategies. The latest IEA forecast suggests this is a prudent approach. Global oil demand is expected to grow by 12% from almost 95mn b/d in 2017 to over 106mn b/d in 2040, according to the latest annual forecast from the In...
Volume: 61Issue: 46Published at Fri, 16 Nov 2018 -
Bumper Nine Months For Saudi Petchems As Sabic Prepares For Aramco Buy-In
...cent weeks – small firm Alujain is again expected to report late – disclosed total net profits of $7.66bn for the first three quarters of 2018, up 33% on the $5.74bn for the same period in 2017 and up 2.7% on the $7.46bn previous periodic high in 2014. Yet quarterly earnings fell by 12% from $2.89bn in 2Q...
Volume: 61Issue: 45Published at Fri, 09 Nov 2018 -
IMO Tightening Sulfur Limits In Bunker Fuels: Will Mena Refiners Cope?
...th the latter in the less wealthy countries. With HSFO prices expected to tumble in the wake of the IMO restrictions, those countries exporting substantial volumes are set to see revenues fall. Saudi Arabia is Mena’s largest fuel oil exporter, averaging 255,000 b/d in 2017 and 322,000 b/d in the fi...
Volume: 61Issue: 44Published at Fri, 02 Nov 2018 -
Hyundai Eyes Iran Exit
...port Bank of Korea (Kexim), although the total investment required for the preliminary deals was significantly more than the amount pledged officially. In June 2017 Kexim agreed with former Iranian finance minister Ali Tayyebnia to open an $8bn line of credit to fund infrastructure projects in Iran. Th...
Volume: 61Issue: 44Published at Fri, 02 Nov 2018 -
Falih Eyes Closer Russian Ties, In Opec+ As Well As Aramco Downstream
...tober 2017, saying that “we are confident that there are vast opportunities for expanding and diversifying economic cooperation…[to] push the trade exchange in accordance with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.” Russian delegates took on prominent roles at this week’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) su...
Volume: 61Issue: 43Published at Fri, 26 Oct 2018 -
Iraq Sends Record Volumes To Its Refineries
...en almost 100,000 b/d sent for refining there, with the products then brought back into northern Iraq. Given that the arrangement survived last October’s Kirkuk offensive when Iraqi troops reclaimed the city and environs from Kurdistan (MEES, 20 October 2017) a cessation looks unlikely, but the ar...
Volume: 61Issue: 42Published at Fri, 19 Oct 2018 -
Egypt’s Petchems Producers Step On The Gas
...st short of the 10.6% rise in Egypt’s gas output over the same period. Egypt’s gas output rose by a further 19% to average 5.34bn cfd for 2017-18, implying a jump in propane output to over 687,000 t/y. The further leap in gas output to a record 6.6mn cfd for September has almost certainly boosted Eg...
Volume: 61Issue: 40Published at Fri, 05 Oct 2018 -
Egypt LPG: Jekyll & Hyde
...ged up to 16,000 b/d for 2017-18. Egypt’s butane imports rose by 11% to 74,000 b/d for 2017-18, though Cairo will be hoping that efforts to expand the country’s piped natural gas network on the back of record output will make this a high-watermark. ...
Volume: 61Issue: 40Published at Fri, 05 Oct 2018 -
Egypt Starts Up Gasoline Unit As Part Of Plan To Slash Fuel Imports
...esel, which though they have fallen since peaking in 2016, remain at stubbornly high levels (net imports of 123,000 b/d for diesel and 55,000 b/d for gasoline in Q2 2017 – see chart). The six projects, including the naphtha reformer, will when operational have combined capacity to produce 2....
Volume: 61Issue: 39Published at Fri, 28 Sep 2018 -
Adnoc Keeps Squeezing The Bottoms
...to unleaded gasoline and polymer grade propylene. This plant is still offline after a fire at the RFCC in early 2017 and not expected back online until early 2019 (MEES, 7 July 2017). Adding pressure on Adnoc’s propylene supplies, the company’s Borouge joint venture recently signed an en...
Volume: 61Issue: 38Published at Fri, 21 Sep 2018 -
Iran Targets Unlikely Gasoline Boost As Demand At All-Time High
...,000 b/d of gasoline. Two phases of PGS are currently operational: the first began operations in April 2017 and the second in February this year. The start-up of each did lead to an immediate dip in Iran’s need for gasoline imports, MEES analysis of Jodi data shows. But a sizable need for imports re...
Volume: 61Issue: 37Published at Fri, 14 Sep 2018 -
Adnoc’s Downstream Squeezing More Out Of ‘Bottom-Of-The Barrel’
...ed to make anodes for separating aluminium from bauxite ore, so the coker’s output will likely be mainly destined for UAE aluminium plants. The UAE is the world’s sixth largest aluminium producer with 2.6mn tons of 2017 output. Next to be completed will be the plant’s carbon black unit, which wi...
Volume: 61Issue: 36Published at Fri, 07 Sep 2018 -
Iran Eyes New Partner For Tabriz Refinery Upgrade
...zaj suggests the demise of an August 2017 heads of agreement with Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction for a $1.9bn upgrade of Tabriz (MEES, 11 August 2017). SK has made no announcement. But Tabriz appears to be the second Iranian refining project from which a Korean firm has withdrawn in the fa...
Volume: 61Issue: 35Published at Fri, 31 Aug 2018 -
Iraq Readies Baiji Unit
...rect crude burn in power plants, it is replacing the crude with heavy fuel oil from refineries. In 1H 2018, Iraq burned 289,000 b/d of fuel oil – compared with 199,000 b/d in 1H 2017 – out of a total 334,000 b/d of oil burned (MEES, 24 August). Restarting Salahuddin-1 would boost Iraq’s operable cr...
Volume: 61Issue: 35Published at Fri, 31 Aug 2018 -
Israel Refiners Pump At Record Levels
...erating at or above 100% capacity for over a year, Paz saw output dip in Q2 with the June completion of an off -gas recovery unit. The unit began operation in July, with Paz “now close to operating at full capacity,” the firm says in its Q2 report, released this week. In 2017 Israel consumed more ga...
Volume: 61Issue: 35Published at Fri, 31 Aug 2018