科威特将增加祖尔炼油厂精制石油产品出口

据烃加工网站2023年2月24日报道，行业消息人士和分析师表示，科威特将在今年下半年增加其新建的祖尔炼油厂的精制石油产品出口，以弥补产能大国石油产品在欧洲的短缺，并满足亚洲和非洲日益增长的需求。

具有日加工61.5万桶原油能力的祖尔炼油厂是今年全球投产的几个新炼油厂之一，在最大燃料出口国的成品油供应中断后，祖尔炼油厂将生产更多精制石油产品，并将炼油利润率从去年的创纪录水平冷却下来。

在西方实施的制裁重组了全球能源贸易路线以后，科威特正在增加对欧洲、非洲、亚洲和美洲的精制石油产品出口。

消息人士称，由于今年晚些时候在祖尔炼油厂将启动另外两个原油蒸馏装置，以使祖尔炼油厂满负荷运转，预计这个欧佩克成员国将减少原油出口，并增加石油产品出口量。

一位知情人士对路透社记者表示，旨在处理中重质原油的祖尔炼油厂在去年9月启动了第一个20.5万桶/天的原油蒸馏装置，由于产量稳定，目前首个原油蒸馏装置以70%～80%的产能在运行。

Kpler公布的数据显示，今年1月份科威特主要成品油出口达到历史最高水平的1700万桶，同比增长30%，原因是祖尔炼油厂向新加坡海峡运送了更多燃料油，向欧洲运送了更多柴油和航空燃油，而向韩国和日本等运送了更多石脑油。

费氏全球能源咨询公司（FGE）预计，祖尔炼油厂的第二个原油蒸馏装置将在今年3月或4月启动，而第三个原油蒸馏装置可能在8月上线。3个原油蒸馏装置的产能相等。

FGE亚洲炼油主管伊万·马修斯表示：“祖尔炼油厂对全球石油产品市场的全面影响可能会在2023年下半年感受到。”

祖尔炼油厂由科威特石油公司（KPC）旗下的子公司科威特综合石油工业公司运营，后者没有立即回应记者的置评请求。

李峻 编译自 烃加工

原文如下：

Kuwait to ramp up refined products exports from the 615,000-bpd Al Zour refinery

Kuwait is set to ramp up refined oil product exports from its new Al Zour refinery in the second half of 2023 to plug shortfalls in Europe and meet growing demand in Asia and Africa, industry sources and analysts said.

The much delayed 615,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery is one of several new complexes coming online this year across the world to churn out more oil products and cool refining margins from record levels last year following the disruption of supplies from top exporter.

Kuwait is boosting oil products exports to Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas after Western sanctions reshuffled energy trade routes globally.

The OPEC producer is expected to reduce crude exports and crank up product shipments as it starts up another two crude distillation units (CDUs) at Al Zour later this year to operate the refinery at full capacity, the sources said.

Al Zour, designed to process medium-heavy crudes, started up the first 205,000 bpd CDU in September, is currently running at between 70% and 80% of its capacity as it stabilizes production, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Kuwait's key refined products exports hit an all-time high of 17 million barrels in January, up 30% on the year, as Al Zour shipped more fuel oil to the Singapore Strait, diesel and jet fuel to Europe, and naphtha to South Korea and Japan, Kpler data showed.

Consultancy FGE expects Al Zour's second CDU to start up in March or April while the third one could come online by August. The three CDUs are of equal capacity.

"Full impact to the products market will likely be felt in H2 2023," FGE's Asia refining head Ivan Mathews said.

The Al Zour refinery is operated by Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company, a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.