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Abu Dhabi: Production from the Arab world's refineries has grown by over 600,000 barrels per day over the past five years, and capacity is set to surge by over 2 million bpd when new projects are completed, according to official data.
The Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries' (Oapec) latest report says most of the increase between 2001 and 2005 came from expansion in refineries in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait as production in other Arab countries have remained almost unchanged in the absence of new major projects.
Saudi Arabia, the world's dominant oil supplier, accounted for the bulk of that increase as its refining output swelled from around 1.79 million bpd in 2001 to nearly 2.12 million bpd at the end of 2005.
Kuwait's refinery production surged from 655,000 bpd in 2001 to 930,000 bpd at the end of 2005 while Qatar's refining output rose from 120,000 to 137,000 bpd.
The increase pushed the Arab world's total refining capacity from around 6.86 million bpd in 2001 to 7.48 million bpd at the end of 2005, according to statistics made available to Gulf News.
An Oapec energy expert said refining capacity in the Arab region, particularly the Gulf, is set for a big leap. "There are new refineries being built in almost every Gulf state, and this will boost the combined Arab refining capacity significantly to over 2 million bpd by 2010," he said.
They include two new major refineries in Saudi Arabia with a combined output capacity of 800,000 bpd. The kingdom also has plans to expand its existing refineries within the country and some of those which it partly owns as joint ventures abroad. The projects will push its total refining output to nearly 3.3 million bpd.
Kuwait is also planning to build one of the largest refining projects in the world, with an initial capacity of nearly 600,000 bpd, while the UAE is considering building a third refinery in Abu Dhabi with a capacity of 500,000 bpd.
Qatar is also involved in expansion while Oman has just completed a major refining project in Sohar that will add nearly 115,000 bpd to its refining output.
According to a study by the World Energy Outlook of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Middle East and North African oil producers are expected to pump $111 billion to nearly double their refining output capacity in the next 25 years.
The investments will add around 7.2 million bpd to the existing refining capacity in the Mena region to push the total refining production to nearly 16 million bpd by 2030.
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