Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company, part of Oman’s national oil company OQ, has started trial operations for the crude oil distillation unit at the 230 kb/d Duqm refinery, located in central Oman. The start of trials indicates operational readiness for all units, as the facility is expected start commercial operations by the end of 2023. The US$6bn refinery, which has a design based on a hydrocracking unit and a petroleum coke unit, will produce liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), naphtha, jet fuel, diesel, sulphur, and petroleum coke once operational.
In addition, Marafiq, a subsidiary of OQ and Thai Gulf Energy Development, has completed a power and water plant in Duqm, which will provide 326 MW of electricity and 36,000 cm/d of industrial water, supplying energy and water to the Duqm Refinery.
Oman currently has two operational refineries: the Mina Al-Fahal refinery (106 kb/d) and the Sohar refinery, whose capacity increased from 116 to 198 kb/d in 2019.