KUWAIT:  Kuwait’s Al-Zour refinery stands as among the region’s most impactful oil projects, besides being the cornerstone of state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s (KPC) future plans and strategies that aim to ratchet up oil refining capacity, the facility’s fully-operational output has reached 615,000 barrels per day (bpd).The refinery, some 90 kilometers south of Kuwait City, has long been one of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s core concerns, as evidenced by his attendance of a lavish ceremony last month to mark the facility’s operation at full capacity.

Ranked seventh in the world’s list of the biggest oil refineries based on daily capacity, a statistic that shows the sheer magnitude of the facility, Al-Zour looks poised to propel KPC to regional prominence given its contributions towards bringing the company’s major goals to fruition, which subsequently triggers a positive ripple effect on the national economy on the intricacies of Al-Zour’s daily output, the refinery churns out some 86,000 bpd of premium Naphtha, in addition to 99,000 bpd of jet fuel and 147,000 bpd of low-sulfur diesel, respectively, all the while keeping carbon emissions in check in line with Kuwait’s commitment towards environmental sustainability goals.

With its operation at full-fledged capacity, Al-Zour refinery will now be able to boost Kuwait’s competitiveness in the global market though its production of oil-based products of sublime quality, with KPC chief executive Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah saying the nation will now “reap the benefits” of the facility, chief among them being a sharp rise in Kuwait’s crude oil exports.

He went on to say that he was “proud” of the dedication and commitment of KPC’s national workforce, saying their experiences in handling such a critical project would serve them well over the course of their professional careers, enabling them to better deal with future endeavors.

Echoing his sentiments, Wadha Al-Khatib, acting chief executive of KPC affiliate Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company, said the opening of Al-Zour refinery would “usher in a new era” in Kuwait’s oil industry, in addition to a “launchpad” for greater output capacity in line with environment safety standards.

Some 30 countries from across the world have become the beneficiaries of the rise in Kuwaiti oil exports, while Al-Zour has boosted total refining capacity from 800,000 bpd to a million and 415 thousand bpd, the official underlined, giving due credit to the national workforce for coping with the arduous journey that culminated in the facility’s full-fledged operations. — KUNA