Kuwait studies two new downstream schemes

06 July 2011

State planning $1.15bn gas processing facility and a $700m sulphur handling plant

State refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is preparing to submit designs for an estimated $1.15bn fifth gas fractionating column at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery to its parent company, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) for approval.

KNPC is putting the final touch on the plans and designs of the fifth gas project, says Hatem al-Awadhi, the company’s deputy managing director for projects, state-owned Kuwait News Agency reports.

The KNPC board is also studying a $700m sulphur handling project, which Al-Awadhi describes as the most important schemes currently under study.The project is part of Kuwait’s plans to prepare its facilities to receive gas from the offshore Dorra field, by upgrading sulphur recovery units at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery. Liquid sulphur will be granulated for easy handling and storage before being loaded on to ships for export.

The two projects are in addition to Kuwait’s Clean Fuels Project valued at $8.6bn and $14.5bn New Refinery Project(also refered to as Al-Zour Refinery), says Al-Awadhi, recently approved by the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC), the country’s highest oil and gas decision-making body (MEED 1:7:11).

In June 2010, South Korea’s Daelim Industrial was awarded a $886m contract for a retendered deal to build the fourth gas fractionating column at the refinery in southern Kuwait. The unit will separate associated gas produced in the north and southeast of the country into its basic components.

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