MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire at Kuwait's Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery on Monday injured several workers but operations were unaffected, reported Reuters with reference to Kuwait National Petroleum Company's (KNPC) statement.
The atmospheric residue desulphurization (ARDS) unit where the fire broke out was isolated and the fire has been fully brought under control, the state refiner said.
A number of workers employed by a contractor suffered minor injuries and smoke inhalation, KNPC said. Some were treated on site while others were taken to hospital and are in stable condition, it said.
"The refinery operations and export operations were not affected and there has been no impact to local marketing operations and supplies to the electricity and water ministry," KNPC said on its Twitter account.
Last month, KNPC said it started full operation of a project to expand refining capacity and produce fuel that generates lower emissions, including expanding capacity at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery to 346,000 barrels per day.
As MRC informed earlier, in November 2018, Kuwait Petroleum Co prepared a study to transform its al-Zour refinery into a commercial one to increase its profitability.
We also remind that Kuwait Olefins Co (TKOC) brought on-stream its cracker in H2 November, 2017, following a maintenance turnaround. The cracker was taken off-line in end-October 2017. Located at Shuaiba in Kuwait, the cracker has a ethylene production capacity of 850,000 mt/year.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
MRC