The rapid growth in world demand, the rise in oil prices and the process of globalization have given a major impetus to refining and petrochemical projects in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. After stagnating for a long time, Arab countries' refining capacity increased by 2.53% between 2006 and 2007, rising to 7.39 million b/d. That is only the beginning, given the number of different projects and mega-projects that have been launched in countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Algeria since 2007. As for Iran, which is in dire need of additional refining capacity, projects are underway or planned that will virtually double its installed capacity over the 2007-2011 period, boosting it from 1.67 million b/d to 3.03 million b/d. The investments required for refining projects in the Middle East and North Africa region as a whole, including for the development of integrated refining-and-petrochemical complexes, are estimated at 117 billion over the 2008-2012 period by Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp). If all the projects currently planned are actually implemented, the region's refining capacity will increase by 6.1 million b/d to 15 million b/d by 2015.
展开▼
