Kuwait now has an outlet for 200,000 b/d of its crude volumes in Vietnam. The Nghi Son refinery in which Kuwait has a 35.1% stake started up earlier this year at low volumes, but is now fully operational. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Bakheet al-Rashidi said on the sidelines of the 6 December Opec meeting that the refinery “is operating commercially now, it’s in full operations processing 100% Kuwaiti crude, 200,000 b/d.”
Mr Rashidi says Kuwait is targeting 800,000 b/d overseas refining capacity, and Nghi Son brings this up to 448,000 b/d gross. The planned Duqm refinery in Oman is slated to add a further 230,000 b/d by around 2023-24, taking the total to 678,000 b/d. Kuwait is eyeing other opportunities in China and Indonesia (see table) and has ambitious plans to raise domestic refining capacity to 2mn b/d (MEES, 30 November). (CONTINUED - 141 WORDS)
