Refinery Processing Units & Production

• Refinery processing units includes physical separation, desulfurization, product upgrading, finishing, heavy residue processing and supporting facilities/utilities

Refinery schemes determinants

• Crude oil characteristics like sulfur, API, aromatic/naphthenic content play a key role
• Crude oil quality decline is expected as more crude oil is produced and less remains
• Lower API values indicates heavier crudes, leading to more atmospheric and vacuum residue which increases processing difficulty and costs
• Higher sulfur content requires more hydrotreating units
• Product demand which is exemplified by a demand shift from heating oils/FO to liquefied natural gas & liquefied petroleum gas
• Capital/Operating Costs reflects how much funds are available for investment
• Process equipment available

Production flexibility

• Allowance exists to meet market demand through maximizing/minimizing certain products and shifting production

Optimization

• Economic considerations drive the optimum flow pattern for any refinery
• Product prices dictate the economic considerations
• Optimization software determines the optimum flow pattern

Refinery configurations

• HS vac resid hydrocracking configuration (SHU)
• LS atm resid catalytic cracking configuration (ZOR)
• LS vac resid thermal cracking configuration (MAA & MAB)

KNPC Mina Abdulla Refinery (MAB)

• Location is in Southern Kuwait, approximately 60 km from Kuwait City
• First built in 1958 by American Independent Oil Co (AMINOIL)
• One crude oil distillation unit with ~30,000 BPD capacity upon its initial construction

Expansion

• Old MAB refinery facilities brought additional refineries between 1962-1967 like Isomax, Hydrogen and Sulfur units
• Capacity rose to 145,000 BPD
• Main product used to be residual fuel oil from neutral zone crude oils (Ratawi-Burgan mix, 20 API)
• Mina Abdullah Refinery transitioned to State property managed by national Wafra Oil Company
• KNPC took ownership of refinery in 1978
• The Refinery Modernization Project (RMP) in 1980 leads to the upgrading the old units, increasing throughput by 156.25 MBPSD by adding new units, integration of the old and new units in the refinery and the integration of MAA, SHU, MAB refineries
• The ultimate refinery scheme used linear programming and the entire design, engineering, material procurement and construction activities of the were trusted Kuwait Santa Fe Braun (KSB)
• New refinery commissioned in: 1988
• 1994 saw an increase to 256 MBPSD
• Throughput reached 270 MBPD through debottlenecking
• Total surface area covers 7.935 million m²

Composition

• Atmospheric and vacuum distillation units
• Distillate Hydrotreaters (for Naphtha, Kerosene & Diesel)
• Atmospheric Residue Desulfurization units
• Hydrocracker unit to upgrade Gas oil
• Delayed Coking Units to upgrade vacuum residue
• supporting units

Production Capability

• 2 crude distillation units w/ 270,000 bpd
• 1 RCD Unibon unit w/ 35,000 bpd
• 2 atmospheric residue desulphurization units w/ 84,000 bpd
• 2 Vacuum Re-Run units w/ 150,000 bpd
• 1 hydro-cracker unit /w 42,500 bpd
• 1 Kerosene Hydro-Treating unit w/ 40,000 bpd
• 1 Diesel Hydro-treating unit w/ 40,000 bpd
• 1 Naphtha Hydro-Treating unit w/ 7,500 bpd
• 2 Delayed Coker units w/ 90,000 bpd
• 2 Merox units /w 3,200 bpd
• 3 hydrogen plant w/ 144 million cu ft/d
• 1 old Hydrogen plant unit /w 26 million cu. ft/d
• 1 hydrogen Recovery unit /w 26 million cu. ft/d
• 3 sulphur Recovery units w/ 270 MT/D
• 2 tail Gas Treating unit w/ 510 MT/day

Modernization Project

• Revamping existing units, like crude distillation, hydrogen production, and Sulfur recovery, and utilities to increase efficiency and capacity
• Building 15 new process units and support facilities utilizing advanced oil refining technology to maximize high quality petroleum products while minimizing fuel oil volume
• Developing export facilities, including a sea island, to increase the North and South piers efficiency at the Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery

Refinery Operation Scheme

• Kuwait Crude mix is separated straight run fractions (naphtha, kerosene, diesel and atmospheric residue) in old/new crude units
• Straight run Naphtha, kerosene, and diesel are hydrotreated to optimize quality
• Hydrotreating units enhance the quality of the raw distillates
• Residue is sent to RCD Unibon (Isomax) and ARDS Unit for desulfurization
• Naphtha stream and distillate from RCD Unibon are sent to hydrotreating units
• Low sulfur residue product is supplemented by imported low sulfur atmospheric residue from MAA refinery
• Part of vacuum gas oil is sent to hydrocracker unit for conversion while remaining sent to MAA refinery
• Vacuum residue is fed to delayed coker unit to convert low value stock into higher value distillates

Utilities

• Process units supported by hydrogen production, hydrogen recovery, gas handling, amine regeneration, sour water stripping, sulfur recovery, tail gas treating, coke handling, utility block and flare systems, waste water treatment, monitoring stations
• Product handling done by provided tanks which can strore 14 Million barrels
• Three 900 psi steam generators w/ 195,000 lbs/hr capacity and an existing 150 psi steam generator w/ 210,000 lbs/hr capacity
• Imports from Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) provide 2,600 gpm water and 165 MW of power
• Imports from KOC provide 47 MMSCFD natural gas
• Shuaiba Area Authority handles 93,000 gpm
• Nitrogen gas is generated locally or received by trailers/pipelines
• Plant air, instrument air, Inert gas etc. are made within the refinery

Process Flexibility

• Facilities incorporate adequate flexibility for varying the product pattern which permits uninterrupted overall refinery operation during scheduled/unscheduled shutdowns
• Hydrocracker operation modes include the ATK Mode that maximized ATK/kerosene production with no diesel production and Diesel mode which produces low pour diesel additionally.
• Delayed coker recycle ratio enables operation with varying rates of distillate and rate of coke production

Old Refinery Units for MAB

• Consists of two crude distillation units totalling 270,000 bpd which include a 190.000 BPD new CDU & 80,000 BPD existing CDU
• Kuwaiti crude oi fields distilled in distillation tower produce gas, naphtha, kerosene and diesel with bottom resides sent to other units
• Delayed Coker Units are two trains w/ total design capacity of 76,000 BPSD or about 38,000 BPD each They are one of the Gulf’s initial construction
• Delayed coking upgrades heavy residues into distillate using thernal cracking
• Sulphur Recovery can recover gas such as the amine regenerator acid gas and converts degassed molten sulphur to MAA for flaking

MAA Refinery units

• 29 new and old units, including crude distillation, fluid catalytic cracking atmospheric residue desulfurization, vacuum rerun and sulfur recovery
• Total are covers 10.543 million m²
• Located on Arabian Gulf and 45 km south of Kuwait City
• 1550 Employees work at LPG plant

Refineries

• Became one of the world’s modern refineries due to capacity of 460,000 bpd and technology
• Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) become the main operator

Key Units

• Three Crude Distillation Units w/ 466,000 bpd
• One EOCENE Topping Unit /w 24,000 bpd
• One Bitumen Production Unit w/ 11,000 bpd
• Four Atmospheric Residue Desulphurization units /w 132,000 bpd
• Two Naphtha Reforming units /w 35,000 bpd
• One Kerosene Desulphurization units /w 20,000 bpd
• One Gas oil Desulphurization units /w 61,600 bpd
• One Vacuum Distillation unit /w 85,000 bpd
• One Hydro Cracking unit /w 40,000 bpd
• One Fluid Catalytic Cracking unit /w 40,000 bpd
• One Hydrogen Recovery unit/w 56,000 MMSCFD
• Four Hydrogen production units /w 198 MMSCFD
• Four Sulphur Recovery units /w 1,334 MTPD
• One Merox Unit /w 20,000 BPSD

Refinery Scheme

• 3 crude distillations units w/ 7,500 bpd capacity
• off gases are used directly as fuel from a Stabilizer, Stabilizer and Debutaziner

KNPC CFP & NRP Initiative

• Increase in environmentally friendly products are driving forces in refineries
• Capacity expected to reach 1,415,000 BPD through the project
• Existing MAA/NAB refineries are upgraded by KNPC under CFP to meet fuel regulations
• Replaced some old units and implemented additional advanced units

MAA and MAB Integration

• Export 0.615 million bbl/day of Kuwait oil to production and product fuel Major units:
• CDU, naphtha, and hydrotreaters
• ARDS
• RFCC

ZOR Plant

• New KNPC initiative with MAF and MAB.
• A project with 4.68 KD

The ZOR Refinery

• Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) was established by Kuwait in 2016
• The government of Kuwait is now the sole share-holder
• The construction of the refinery started in 2017
• To be commissioned in 2019 with design capacity of 615 MBPD
• KIPIC provides root integrated refining, petrochemical operations, and LNG import complex
• Total area is 16 million square meters Number of employees ≈ 2000 + contractors for phase 1
• Conforms to safety and envioronmental standards, including chevron, Shell, Fluor and Honeywell