Late November: Middle East update

Iran

Iranian Oil Minister Rostan Qasemi has announced that the country is soon to launch the country’s first gas to liquids (GTL) refinery. The plant will be on one of the Persian Gulf islands and have a processing capacity of 10 000 bpd. The plant will produce naphtha, gasoline and gasoil from natural gas. This is the first step in Iran’s larger plan to construct 100 GTL facilities by 2021.

Oman has apparently declared that it has withdrawn from the partnership with National Iranian Petrochemical Co. to build a petrochemical plant in the South of Iran. Oman has withdrawn from the project due to a reported dispute over the price of raw materials. The agreement was signed in 2009 for the construction of the US$ 500 million facility, which will produce 1.6 million tpy of petrochemical products.

UAE

The UAE’s first refinery was opened in 1976. The island of Umm Al Nar, where the facility is located, has been celebrating its launch. The facility had a small capacity of 15 000 bpd when first in operation. Since then the plant has undergone many upgrades and now has a production capacity of 85 000 bpd.

Yemen

Early last week, due to an attack on a pipeline supplying crude to the Aden refinery over a month ago production halted. The facility ran out of crude as the main pipeline from the Marib fields was blown up in October. Over the last month, the plant has been running at a production capacity of 40 000 bpd rather than 150 000 bpd. The company is currently in negotiations to seek alternative crude supplies.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/28112011/late_november_middle_east_processing_update/