Kuwait’s state refiner KNPC will shut down its ageing 200,000 b/d Shuaiba refinery permanently by April 2017, more than two years earlier than planned the company said this week. This follows a series of unplanned closures, most recently due to a fire in a heavy crude demulsifier in August (MEES, 21 August). It has since edged back up to 150,000 b/d throughputs.
KNPC had aimed to keep Shuaiba refinery operating until the completion of the clean fuels project (CFP) to upgrade the existing 466,000 b/d Mina al-Ahmadi and 270,000 b/d Mina Abdullah refineries and the building of a new 615,000 b/d refinery at Al-Zour. The KD4.68bn ($15.35bn) CFP is scheduled for completion in late-2017, and the combined capacity of the two refineries will be 800,000 b/d (MEES, 13 March). (CONTINUED - 365 WORDS)
