Oman’s massive Duqm refinery, the most significant project in the refining and petrochemical industries sector, has started operations of the crude oil distillation unit, which indicates operational readiness for all the units of the refinery.
The refinery has a capacity of 230,000 barrels per day, with its design based on a hydrocracking unit and a petroleum coke unit. It will produce liquefied petroleum gas, naphtha, jet fuel, diesel, sulphur, and petroleum coke upon operation.
Hilal bin Ali Al Kharusi, CEO of the Commercial, Refining and Petrochemical Sector at OQ and Chairman of OQ8‘s Board, stated that the trial operation of Duqm Refinery is a development that moves forward according to the set plan. The trial operation goes through several phases before reaching maximum capacity, followed by commercial operation, which is expected by the end of this year.
He added that all support units in the project, which has reached a completion rate of 97.5%, have been operated, taking into account the priority of safe operation for all units.
Al Kharusi added, “The company has carried out several exercises to evaluate the efficiency of the integrated emergency response plan, the emergency handling system, in addition to evaluating fire-fighting, rescue, containment of hazardous materials, and the followed security procedures.”
Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries is a joint venture between OQ Group and Kuwait Petroleum International.
