CRUDE OIL REFINING AND GAS LIQUEFACTION

 

Oil Refining and Gas Liquefaction: KNPC Core Business

 

CRUDE OIL REFINING AND GAS LIQUEFACTION

A.       OIL REFINING:
 
Crude oil processed at the company three refineries this year exceeded the feed to the three refineries in the last financial year by ten million barrels .Crude oil throughput to the three refineries amounted to325.7 million barrels in 2010/2011 compared to 314.7 million barrels in the past year. The increase was mainly due to the improvement of safety standards and the elaborate concentration on those standards in the operations beside the successful maintenance programs which boosted the refineries reliability.
 
Total crude throughput during this year reached 862.2 thousand barrels per day  showing 3.5% increase over the average daily  rate of last year KNPC was selected as the Oil Refining Company for the year 2011 by HART publishing firm in the USA which usually gives its award to only big companies.
 
Further details regarding the individual performance of each of the three refineries are given here below:
 
MINA AL- AHMADI REFINERY:
 
Being the largest among the company refineries, Mina Al=Ahmadi refinery performance throughout the year was quite impressive as its annual output totaled around 157.7 million barrels . In other wards the daily throughput to Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery during this fiscal year was running at an average rate of 431.8 thousand barrels  per day compared to 401.9 thousand bpd last year with an increase of around7%.
 
Exports from MAA refinery amounted during this periodto12.07 million metric tons including 115,800 metric tons of Bunker, and around 828,288  metric tons of sulfur. MAA exports were shipped from  the refinery south and north  oil piers.
 
SHUAIB REFINERY:
 
Shuaiba Refinery continued its operations this year in an efficient and professional manner as a part of the integrated and optimized refining complex of KNPC.  72.4 million barrels of crude oil was processed during the fiscal year of 2010/2011 at the average daily throughput rate of 198.3 thousand barrels showing an increase over its throughput average of last year which amounted to190.3 thousand barrels per day  .This performance was due to the emphasis the refinery had laid on safety both personnel related and equipment as well, while conducting its operations. This emphasis helped the refinery avoid unscheduled shut down of its units or utilities.
 
In the meantime Shuaiba Refinery prepared during this period to launch its GRT program in the beginning of April2011
Exports from Shuaiba Refinery totaled during this financial year 7.6 million metric tons in addition to around 94204 metric tons of Bunker oil. They were shipped from the Refinery oil pier .Compared to the refinery exports last year which amounted to 6.5 million tons they reflect an increase by 15%.
 
 MINA ABDULLA REFINERY:
 
Mina Abdulla Refinery operated satisfactorily throughout the year 2010 /2011,as crude oil throughput was maintained at nearly  the maximum possible capacity reaching around95.70 million barrels at the average daily rate of 262.2 thousand barrels, less than the daily throughput of last year which was running at the rate of 270 thousand barrels.
 
Exports from MAB refinery products   during this fiscal year totaled around8.6 million metric tons shipped from MAB Sea Island,  including2578 metric  tons of bunker .The refinery coke  output  amounted to around1076 thousand metric tons  455 thousand of it was shipped  ex  Shuaiba  port  while 456.7  metric tons   was supplied to  a local   PCIC company and 163 thousand metric tons to  a cement company. I n addition to that KNPC supplied a local authority with 735.2 tons of ATK and 2629 thousand tons to KPPC.
 

 
 
 
 
 
TOTAL REFINERY PRODUCTS:
 
Net output of petroleum products at the three refineries during the financial year 2010/2011 reached approximately 44.1million metric tons showing an increase of 4% over the same output in the last year which amounted to 42.4 million metric tons. The following table shows breakdown of the company petroleum products and their percentage in the fiscal years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011.
 

 
B.       Gas Liquefaction    LPG:
 
Feedstock to the LPG plant at Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery reached in the fiscal year 2010/20111205.9 million cubic feet per day against 1099.9 million cubic feet per day in the previous fiscal year. With an increase of 9%.This amount represents available gas supplies from KOC fields as well as from KNPC refineries.
 
Propane exports from the LPG plant amounted to 2083.7 metric tons while   Butane exports reached around1694.4 metric tons  Compared to their level in the previous fiscal year exports from the LPG plant reveal  29%  increase as they were around 2929 thousand metric tons.