REFINERY NEWS ROUNDUP: Upgrades in focus in Middle East

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Refinery upgrades have been in focus in the Middle East with progress reported at plants in Iran and Iraq.

With the addition of the current Meesan and Baiji expansions, Iraq's refining nominal capacity will add up to 1.542 million b/d, Prime Minister Mohd Sudani said at the start of the two projects.

Mohammad-Sadegh Azimifar, managing director of Iran's NIORDC, was quoted as saying by the Shana news agency March 29 that Iran's oil products surged by 100,000 b/d in the past year that ended March 20. "Fortunately, in the second half of the year 1403 (October-March), we raised efficiency in the existing refineries, adding 8 million l/d of gasoline in average to the country's total production," he said, adding Iran aimed to reach the planned objectives of producing 129 million l/d of gasoline and 130 million l/d of gas oil by March 2029.

Elsewhere, Al-Saidi Trading and Industry of Saudi Arabia announced plans to build a petrochemicals project in Jubail with a capacity to produce 150,000 mt/year of ethylene vinyl acetate and ethylene butyl acrylate copolymers. Operations are expected to begin by the end of 2028. The raw material ethylene will be provided by Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical, Al-Saidi.

Saudi Arabia's Sipchem is preparing to halt production at its ethyl acetate plant in the kingdom's petrochemicals hub in Jubail "until further notice." Preparations are underway to start the production shutdown process on orders of the board of directors on March 18, Sipchem said. Sipchem Chemical was established in 2011 and produces ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, polybutylene terephthalate and tetrahydrofuran, according to the company's website. The shutdown is part of Sipchem's efforts to improve its profit, which tumbled 64% in 2024, the company said.

Meanwhile, Kuwait's Al-Zour refinery is targeting an increase in ultra low sulfur diesel exports meeting French specifications and the start of German-specification ULSD exports, after successfully completing a trial run of a low-sulfur jet fuel/turbine/kerosene grade that can serve demand for low-emission products in the aviation sector, a refinery spokesperson told Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights. The refinery's exports of European ULSD meeting French specifications have more than doubled in the past year, the spokesperson said. The refinery is also on track to build capabilities to produce a more stringent ULSD grade in 2025 that meets German specifications, if there is demand, the source added. The trial run for 10 ppm jet fuel has been completed and the Al-Zour refinery is "fully capable of producing and exporting this grade based on market demand," the spokesperson said.

In other news, Russian oil has begun trickling back into Syria. According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data, around 500,000 barrels of Russian gasoil arrived at Syria's Banias terminal in March, while at least 2 million barrels of crude were due to arrive by early April. New flows could offer a lifeline for Syria's crude-starved refineries, Banias and Homs, which have been crippled by the loss of Iranian oil. On March 21, Syria TV reported that Aquatica, a sanctioned Aframax, docked at Banias, calling it the first arrival under the new regime.