Oman’s oil minister Mohammed bin Hamed al-Rumhy said that the new 230,000 bpd Duqm refinery would likely to start the commissioning process by late 2021 or early 2022, earlier than the initial target of October 2022. The $7-billion refinery, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Oman’s state-owned OQ and Kuwait’s KPI, will produce primarily diesel, jet fuel, naphtha, and LPG. Al-Rumhy said that the project is currently 60% complete.
Oman is also building a crude storage facility in Ras Markaz to meet the needs of the new Duqm refinery. The facility is located 80-km south of Duqm and will be able to store 200 million barrels of crude, of which, 8 million barrels will be built under the phase one development. Duqm will use 65% Kuwaiti crude and 35% Omani crude as feedstocks which will be stored in Ras Markaz.
Oman chose the two sites outside the Strait of Hormuz because the country wants the facilities to be a logistics and marine hub that provide services to the Middle Eastern, Asia-Pacific, and African markets. Oman is also constructing its first integrated petrochemicals facility at Duqm, which has been progressing as planned. The 1.6 million tons/year facility costs $8 billion and is expected to start up in 2022. It will process feedstock from the Duqm refinery to produce ethylene. It will also have downstream aromatics, polypropylene, and polyethylene capacities.
