KUWAIT CITY: The Shuaiba oil refinery in Kuwait resumed operation on Saturday, the head of state refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) said on his Twitter account, after a fire at a heavy oil unit forced a total shutdown last week.
“The Shuaiba refinery has been restarted at a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day and all the units are operating expect those affected,” Mohammad al-Mutairi, chief executive of KNPC, said in a tweet.
The refinery produced 140,000 barrels on Sunday, KNPC spokesperson Khalid al-Asousi later told state news agency Kuna.
The fire at the heavy oil cracking unit at Kuwait’s 200,000 barrel-per-day Shuaiba refinery broke out last Monday. There were no casualties reported.
OPEC member Kuwait has three refineries, including Shuaiba, with a combined capacity of 930,000 bpd.
Meanwhile, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) Sunday stated it started preparing budget estimation for the upcoming financial year, as demanded by Ministry of Finance, reports Al-Anba daily.
The daily quoting reliable sources added equivalence of the new budget varies between $35 and $36 under the current oil price, adding the price of oil is $10 less than the equivalent price in previous budgets.
Sources further disclosed that the company invited contractors to participate in providing manpower for the Clean Fuel Project to pave way for its implementation.
In the same context, government sources warned of the deficit reaching nine billion dinars, as the price of oil keeps declining, indicating a barrel of oil was $43 on Saturday, reports Annahar daily quoting reliable sources.
They noted that government is about to issue financial securities, and if the price of oil keeps declining below $45, it may open the door for withdrawing from the future generations fund or borrowing from the banks.
They warned that revenues will not be able to cover up the salaries if the price of oil reaches $35 per barrel.
