Early March Middle Eastern downstream update

Iraq

The Beiji refinery has reopened after gunmen attacked the facility on 26 February, according to the Oil Ministry. Iraq relies heavily on the 150 000 bpd refinery for domestic consumption of fuel.

Israel

Givot Olam Oil Exploration LP sold 16 610 barrels of oil from production tests at the Merged 5 well to Oil Refineries Ltd. The deliveries, made between February 1 and March 4, were offered at a 20% discount on the then market price.

Kuwait

Kuwait plans to boost its refining capacity by 56% to 1.45 million bpd before 2016, according to the state owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Current capacity is approximately 930 000 bpd.

Qatar

A second plant at Ras Laffan is in development, the government has announced, which will double the complex’s condensate refining capacity to 300 000 bpd by 2015. The country’s condensate output is increasing rapidly as the development of North Field projects come on stream, reaching 780 000 bpd by 2015.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Aramco have updated the completion schedules for three major refining projects. The Jubail and Yanbu refineries are expected to be operational in 2013 and 2014 respectively, while the Jizan refinery will be completed in 2015, as opposed to the previous estimate of 2014. Each of the three projects is slated to have a 400 000 bpd capacity.

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