Refinery expansion and pipeline projects

This week, the Gulf region has seen a flurry of oil and gas news such as the expansion of an Omani refinery and plans for Abu Dhabi to build new Kuwaiti oil and gas pipelines.

In Oman, it is the Sohar refinery in the northeast of the country that is planned for expansion as part of an overhaul across the country's entire energy industry. The refinery is expected to see US$300 million spent on its renovation which will see increase its production from 116,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 190,000 bpd.

Speaking to Arabian Business, a financial ministry official said the upgrade should take place in 2013. It is all part of Oman's plans to increase oil output in the face of falling production. The project has received heavy investment as it is hoped that the increase in production will lead to an increase in exported refined fuels to international markets.

Kuwaiti contracts

While Oman seeks to increase production, Kuwait has awarded a US$400 million contract to Petroface of Abu Dhabi, to build fuel and gas oil pipelines for Kuwait Oil Company.

In a statement, Kuwait Oil Company said the contract, which will span an estimated 23.5 months, will include a fuel oil pumping station, metering systems, utilities systems.

It is a lucrative project for the Abu Dhabi based firm, whose home state is also planning their own expansions, but of new petrochemical plants.

For the emirate, they are planning to build the new plants near an existing oil refinery at the Ruwais industrial area rather than at a port closer to the UAE capital. It is at this site that state-owned Abu Dhabi National Chemicals Co. will shift all planned sites gaining more direct access to the refinery by-products that will feed its systems.

The petrochemical developer, known as Chemaweyaat after the Arabic word for chemicals, had initially planned to build some plants at the projected Port Khalifa, a new industrial zone between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

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