Kuwait shuts its oldest oil refinery

Kuwait would permanently close its oldest oil refinery on Friday, an official said on Thursday.

The shutdown of the 49-year-old Shuaiba refinery comes after studies concluded that its revamp was “difficult and economically non-feasible,’’ Head of the state-owned Kuwait National Petroleum Company, Mohammed Al-Mutairi said.

The refining capacity of Shuaiba, which started operation in April 1968, was 200,000 barrels per day.

Al-Mutairi said that the al-Zour refinery, one of the OPEC member country’s other three facilities, would increase its production to replace Shuaiba’s lost capacity.

Storage and export facilities at Shuaiba will be used in an ongoing clean fuels project in the Gulf country, the official added.