State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is looking to stabilise production at the $16bn Al-Zour refinery, according to Sheikh Nawaf al-Sabah, the company’s deputy chairman and chief executive.The refinery is currently producing its nameplate capacity of 615,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil, Al-Sabah said, speaking at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London.He said: “We will announce in the next few days ... its full commissioning.“It is basically up and running and producing at that number, and once we are confident of its stability then we will announce publicly that it is complete.”In early September, KPC said that the refinery was only processing 410,000 b/d.Once the refinery is officially online and stably producing its full capacity, Kuwait’s total refining capacity will be 1.4 million b/d, he said.The commissioning of the Al-Zour refinery has suffered repeated setbacks in 2023.When completely commissioned, the refinery is set to become one of the largest of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region. It will produce mainly gasoline, diesel and kerosene to Euro 5 emission standards.The project comprises five main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages. The EPC contracts were awarded during the second half of 2015.Contractors started work on their respective packages towards the end of that year.The oil refining facility reached mechanical completion in 2021, but the commissioning phase was prolonged by several factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic. Measures designed to reduce the spread of the virus impacted the project’s (ICE KUWAIT)

Fonte notizia: Meed