Oman Aims To Double Products, Petchems Exports

27 Mar 2020 Issue: 63 / 13 By: Waylon Fairbanks

Oman’s downstream drive has seen it become a sizeable refined products exporter – a key initiative as Muscat looks to maximize revenue from limited oil output. The imminent Liwa Plastics startup will double petchems production, whilst the Duqm refinery is set to more than double products exports from late next year.

Since expanding its 197,000 b/d Sohar refinery in late 2017 (MEES, 23 February 2018), Oman has seen rapid growth in its exports of key refined products – diesel, jet-kerosene, gasoline and LPG – as it seeks to move up the value chain and maximize oil export revenue.

Products export leapt from just 9,000 b/d in 2016 to 85,000 b/d for 2018. Volumes dipped slightly to 79,000 b/d last year due to significant maintenance at Sohar in Q4 but shot back up to average 105,000 b/d for the first two months of 2019 (see chart 1), with February seeing record gasoline exports of 29,000 b/d. Further maintenance is not expected until February 2021 (this time at Oman’s other refinery, the 106,000 b/d Mina al-Fahal complex), and coupled with a marginal boost in crude output expected following the 1 April expiry of its Opec+ commitment, Muscat is well-poised for a year of record products exports. (CONTINUED - 825 WORDS)