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Abu Dhabi: The Middle East's refining capacity is projected to increase by 3 million barrels per day to above 9.6 million barrels per day by 2012, an energy expert said. "There is significant refining capacity additions in almost all Middle East countries between now and 2012 to above 9.6 million barrels per day over the next six years," Dr. Fereidun Fesharaki, Chairman and Chief Executive of FACTS Global Energy, said at the Middle East Petro-leum and Gas Conference. "The joint implication of upcoming refining and GTL (gas to liquids) projects is that the Middle East's product's exports will grow by 1.3 million barrels per day between now and 2011-12."
The Middle East's current refining capacity stands at 6.65 million barrels per day with Saudi Arabia having the region's largest capacity of more than 2 million barrels per day followed by Iran and Kuwait. "The UAE has seen remarkable refining expansion with capacity doubling between 1995 and now." But the region still lags significantly behind US, Europe and even Asia in terms of fuel quality, he added. Fesharaki said Saudi Arabia is expected to emerge as a refining powerhouse by the next decade with two major export-oriented grassroots refineries planned at Yanbu and Jubail with capacities of 400,000 bpd each. In Iran, three new condensate splitters of 120,000 bpd each will come online between 2009 and 2011 while in the UAE, Adnoc is building a 300,000 bpd refinery in Fujairah. "It could even be 500,000 bpd," he said. Mena Private sector urged to play bigger role The Middle East and North Africa countries must allow the private sector to invest more and participate on a wider scale to create better employment opportunities, the World Bank has said. "The dominating challenge on the economic agenda of Mena countries is unemployment and most countries need economic growth rates exceeding 5-6 per cent to deal with the problem," said Hossein Razavi, Director of Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure Development, World Bank. Mena countries are facing very complex investment decisions and investments in oil and gas are seriously intertwined with other critical needs. "The key to unlocking the investment dilemma is to let the private sector play a bigger role. But the overall size of the public sector is an issue," he told delegates at the conference. About $56 billion per annum of investments is needed to expand capacity and replace facilities in the energy related sector in Mena between now and 2030. S.C.
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