Al-Zour refinery faces possible recovery setback after recent fire incident

Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) has informed that firefighters have put out a limited fire at the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait.

PHOTO: Kerosene hydrotreating unit at Al Zour refinery, Kuwait. Sinopec Engineering

The fire at the desulfurization unit no. 12 in Al-Zour refinery was swiftly extinguished in record time on Thursday, KIPIC said in a social media post on platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

The fire incident took place at a time when the refinery was gradually resuming operations after a complete shutdown last week. The operations were halted following a malfunction in one of the main valves in the refinery. KIPIC announced on Wednesday that it would take approximately 10 days to return to normal production levels and was taking necessary steps to restore operations.

Despite the shutdown, the refinery has sufficient stocks of diesel, naphtha, kerosene and fuel oil to meet contractual obligations for its foreign and local customers, the chief executive of KIPIC Waleed Khalid Al-Badr told Reuters on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether the refinery recovery timeline will get affected by the recent fire incident.

Investigations are being conducted to determine the cause of the fire. Initial indications suggest that the refinery shutdown and the fire incident are not connected, Reuters reported.

KIPIC delivers VLSFO for bunkering via ex-pipe at the Al-Zour refinery and also supplies LSMGO at the Shuwaikh and Mina-al-Ahmadi ports by at least two bunker barges.

The refinery has been exporting vast quantities of VLSFO to several bunker ports including Singapore and Fujairah in the last few months.

By Nithin Chandran

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