Oman's 230,000 b/d Duqm refinery set for Q1 2023 startup following delays

Oman's 230,000 b/d Duqm refinery in the south is expected to come online in the first quarter of 2023, the head of project management at the facility told state-run Oman News Agency on Oct. 30, as the Gulf country seeks to process crudes other than its own.

Construction of the refinery is 87% complete, Yousuf Al-Jahdhami told the agency.

The refinery, which will cost more than $8 billion, has faced numerous delays since construction started in 2018.

The facility is a 50-50 joint venture between Oman's state-owned OQ and Kuwait Petroleum International (Q8), called Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Co. (OQ8).

Once operational, Duqm refinery will receive 65% of its crude volume from Kuwait, and the remaining 35% will be Omani crude, with both grades stored at Ras Markaz Oil Storage Park in the Duqm Special Economic Zone.

The refinery will mainly produce diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and LPG, Jahdhami said.

Ras Markaz storage

Oman is putting the finishing touches on Ras Markaz Oil Storage Park, the Duqm Special Economic Zone said in a Aug. 15 tweet, that can eventually hold more than 200 million barrels as the country seeks to attract international oil companies to park their cargoes in the country.

Ras Markaz Oil Storage Park will have an initial capacity to hold 25 million barrels starting in Q1 2022, Salim al-Hashmi, project general manager at developer Oman Tank Terminal Co., told the zone's Duqm Economist Magazine in its quarterly issue published in July.

The storage park will be connected to Duqm refinery through an 80-km long pipeline and eight tanks built to store the facility's oil.