Construction wraps on main units of Kuwait’s Al-Zour refinery

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) subsidiary Sinopec Luoyang (Guangzhou) Engineering Co. Ltd. has completed construction of the main processing units of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) subsidiary Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Co.’s (KIPIC) grassroots 615,000-b/d Al-Zour integrated refining and petrochemical complex under construction in southern Kuwait (OGJ Online, Apr. 22, 2019).

As one of the general contractors of Al-Zour refinery project, Sinopec Luoyang Engineering adopted an intelligent collaborative work system and used virtual designs to coordinate with global partners and share data to complete the 15 process production plants, including the hydrodesulfurization plant, Sinopec said on Dec. 16.

Completion of the main unit follows Kuwait’s 2015 award of a $4.1-billion lump-sum turnkey contract to a consortium of Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas SA, China’s Sinopec Engineering (Group) Co. Ltd., and Hanwha Engineering & Construction Corp. of South Korea to provide engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning services for Package 1 of the Al-Zour project, which included the complex’s main processing units (OGJ Online, Oct. 13, 2015).

At the time, the consortium’s scope of work under the contract, which was to last 45 months, included delivery of services for the following:

• 3 crude distillation units, each with a processing capacity of 210,000 b/d.
• 3 atmospheric residue desulfurization units, each with a processing capacity of 110,000 b/d.
• 3 diesel hydrotreating units, each with a processing capacity of 62,000 b/d.
• 2 naphtha hyrdrotreating units, each with a processing capacity of 18,200 b/d.
• 2 kerosene hydrotreating units, each with a processing capacity of 53,000 b/d.
• An 8,500-b/d saturated gas unit.
• A heavy oil cooling unit.

Sinopec, however, did not disclose details regarding the specific components or capacities included in the completed main-units package.

KIPIC most recently said the first unit of the Al-Zour integrated complex was to be completed by May, with pipelines for delivery of feedstock to the refinery to be ready by October (OGJ Online, Nov. 14, 2019).

The long-planned Al-Zour complex is the grassroots undertaking that forms part of Kuwait’s Clean Fuels Project (CFP), which also includes a program to upgrade, expand, and transform the 270,000-b/d Mina Abdullah and 466,000-b/d Mina Al Ahmadi refineries into an integrated 800,000 b/d merchant refining complex (OGJ Online, Aug. 24, 2017; Oct. 27, 2016).

KPC subsidiary Kuwait National Petroleum Co. officially shuttered its 200,000-b/d Shuaiba refinery on Apr. 1 as part of the CFP (OGJ Online, July 31, 2017).