Kuwait commences commercial operations at Al-Zour refinery

KUNA

Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) has started commercial operations of the first phase of the Al-Zour refinery project, state-owned Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.

The refinery last month started to produce and sell primary quantities of fuel oil and supply it to local electric power stations.

KIPC acting CEO Waleed Al-Bader said the operation is a ‘mainstay of the country’s development plan’.

He added that the refinery provides fuel of high quality and environmental standards to meet the local energy demand, as it limits emissions of gases polluting the environment and improves air quality.

Al-Bader indicated that it is a vital outlet for the disposal of heavy Kuwaiti oil and provides other refined products for export in global markets with standard specifications.

The refinery’s capacity is 615,000 barrels per day, with a strategic low sulfur fuel oil (LSFO) storage capacity of 6.5 million barrels, according to KIPIC’s website.

Earlier, Kuwait’s finance minister Abdul Wahab Al-Rasheed said that the country will use an expected budget surplus for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, to replenish its general reserve fund (GRF).

“(Oil) prices today and for a while are above this price, and this will result in surpluses in the next final account (of the budget),” he said, without specifying how big the surplus would be.

“And through these surpluses, we seek to restore the general reserve,” he said after last Tuesday’s parliament meeting.