Kuwait begins major turnaround at Al-Ahmadi refinery

Robert Brelsford

Downstream Technology Editor

Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) subsidiary Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC) has started a more than month-long turnaround at its 466,000-b/d Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery about 28 miles south of Kuwait City on the Persian Gulf.

The $16.9-million major maintenance event began on Jan. 20 and will last for 35 days, Kuwait News Agency reported on Feb. 13.

The maintenance comes as part of KNPC's standing policy to check installations and equipment once every 4 years, said Fahad Al-Daihani, deputy chief executive officer at the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery.

During the planned turnaround-which will not impact overall refining operations-the company will conduct routine maintenance and unit upgrade projects to boost production of higher-quality, cleaner fuel derivatives and products by 2020, said Ahmad Dashti, KNPC's head of maintenance.

Upgrades at Mina Al-Ahmadi follow KNPC's broader works at part of its Clean Fuels Project (CFP), which aims to modernize and expand its 270,000-b/d Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries (OGJ Online, Apr. 1, 2013).

Alongside increasing crude processing capacities at Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi to 454,000 b/d and 346,000 b/d, respectively, the CFP also will include work to transform the refineries into an integrated 800,000-b/d merchant refining complex under Kuwait's 2030 strategy to enhance growth in its refining and manufacturing sectors and upgrade its refineries to produce clean-burning fuels conforming to Euro 5 standards (OGJ Online, Nov. 28, 2017).

KPC's newly formed subsidiary Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Co. recently said it remains on schedule to complete its grassroots 615,000-b/d Al-Zour integrated refining complex-the cornerstone of Kuwait's CPF-by yearend 2019 (OGJ Online, Jan. 22, 2018).

KNPC also shuttered its aging 200,000-b/d Shuaiba refinery on Apr. 1, 2017, as part of the CFP downstream initiative (OGJ Online, July 31, 2017).