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OPEC member Kuwait has started full operation of its Al-Zour oil refinery by commissioning the third and last distillation unit, an oil official has said.
The launching of the third unit by the state-owned Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) boosted the refinery to its maximum output capacity of 615,000 barrels per day, KIPIC’s CEO Walid Al-Badr said.
He told the Kuwaiti Arabic language daily Alqabas on Wednesday that the third unit has a capacity of 205,000 bpd and can process all types of Kuwaiti crude.
“The third and last distillation unit was commissioned this week and this allowed the refinery to operate at full capacity,” Badr said.
Kuwait, which controls the world’s sixth largest proven oil deposits, awarded Al-Zour refinery project in South Kuwait to an international consortium a few years ago. Officials have said Al-Zour, one of the world’s largest oil refineries, cost nearly $16 billion.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
