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Kuwait plans to start third Al-Zour unit in June

18 April 2023

The third crude distillation unit (CDU) at the $16bn Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait has been officially scheduled to start operations in June, but may be delayed due to technical problems, according to industry sources.

“Officially, the third CDU is scheduled to come online in June,” said one source. “Whether or not this will actually happen remains uncertain due to ongoing teething problems related to commissioning.”

State-owned Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (Kipic) officially announced the start of operations of the first of three CDUs of the Al-Zour refinery in November last year.

At the time, Waleed Khaled al-Bader, acting CEO of Kipic, said that the refinery is providing quality fuel in line with environmental standards that meet local energy demands.

The project has struggled with significant problems and setbacks during the commissioning phase.

Earlier this month, it was reported that one of the two CDUs that had already started operations had to be shut down due to technical issues.

Project progress

When completely commissioned, Kuwait’s Al-Zour refinery, which is set to become one of the largest of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region, will produce mainly gasoline, diesel and kerosene to Euro 5 emission standards.

The project comprises five main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages. The EPC contracts were awarded during the second half of 2015.

Contractors started work on their respective packages towards the end of that year.

The oil refining facility reached mechanical completion in 2021, but during the commissioning phase, the Covid-19 pandemic and related measures designed to reduce the spread of the virus impacted the project’s progress.

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Wil Crisp

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