Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC), a subsidiary of the national oil company Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), has begun full operation of its 615 kb/d Al-Zour oil refinery, located near Al-Wafrah in southern Kuwait, with the commissioning of the third and last distillation unit. The first phase of the refinery (205 kb/d) came online in November 2022 and the second phase in March 2023 (205 kb/d).
The US$23bn refinery, which was originally scheduled for completion in 2019, will supply both the domestic and international demand for ultra-low-sulphur petroleum products.
The country has two other refineries, namely Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdulla, adding up to a total capacity of over 1 mb/d. As part of the Clean Fuels Project, refining capacity at the Mina Al-Ahmadi was reduced by 120 kbl/d in April 2020, while that of Mina Abdulla refinery was raised in 2020 through the commissioning of a 284 kb/d crude distillation unit.