Middle East refiners will add 2.2mn b/d of crude processing capacity by end-2019 to take the regional total to 10.5mn b/d, according to the International Energy Agency. This is more than a quarter of global expansions over the same period, taking the region’s share of global capacity from 8.6% to 10%.
In its latest Medium-Term Oil Market Report, released last week, the IEA says ambitious downstream plans in Kuwait, Iran and Iraq amongst others could increase the increment further, although “we maintain a fairly conservative outlook for these countries for the time being.” This is roughly in line with MEES analysis (MEES, 7 February). (CONTINUED - 1005 WORDS)
