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Oman refinery output marginally down in 1999

MUSCAT: Oman refinery throughput was marginally down in 1999 but is expected to fall by some 20 percent this year due to planned maintenance, a senior official said on Sunday.

The Oman Refinery Co (ORC) produced 28.66 million barrels of oil products in 1999, down from 28.67 million barrels in 1998, Diyain Obaid Kaabi, director of petroleum products at Oman's ministry of oil and gas, told Reuters.

Production of regular fuel dropped 16.8 percent to 871,900 barrels while super petrol fell by 8.1 percent to 3.84 million barrels. Gas oil output rose to 6.29 million barrels from 6.03 million barrels.

Butane output rose to 423,000 barrels from 395,200 barrels while jet fuel production rose 29 percent to 1.46 million barrels.

Kaabi said ORC had been producing at maximum capacity for the past two years but was expected to produce less in 2000 due to planned maintenance in the second quarter.

"The refinery is expected to produce 10-20 percent below its capacity because of the two-week scheduled maintenance," Kaabi said.

ORC had earlier said it was investing $5.5 million to upgrade its refinery to produce unleaded gasoline by 2003 to comply with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regulations. It also said the refinery would halt leaded gasoline production by 2005.

Oman, which has a 85,000 barrel-per-day refinery at Mina al-Fahal, currently imports unleaded gasoline from neighbouring United Arab Emirates, a GCC member which is also upgrading its refineries to producer more unleaded gasoline.

Oman is planning to build another refinery early next year in the northern city of Sohar at a production capacity of 75,000 barrels a day.-Reuters