Refining's big expansion
Teapots are vying with the state giants in China, while India and the Middle East are ramping up
Investors aren't doing much to build new refining capacity in Europe and North America, but Asia, the Middle East and Africa are another story. There, demand continues to grow and governments want to cut down on import bills (or beef up export capacity) and improve energy security. In the first half of 2017, global demand for refined products outpaced expansion in crude distillation unit (CDU) capacity, even without allowing for maintenance shutdowns and output reductions due to technical problems. So capacity utilisation remained high. The longer-term trend of growth in global CDU capacity was actually interrupted in early 2017, due in part to a scaling back of capacity in Japan. But busine
Also in this section
11 March 2025
Direct air capture is still in its infancy, but organisations are seeking to leverage global collaborations and AI to discover new materials, with an aim of scaling up the technology and cutting costs
11 March 2025
Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria and Kazakhstan all add significant volumes as core OPEC-9 feels the strain of compliance
11 March 2025
Investor certainty key to diversifying country’s oil and gas exports amid fresh talk of improving infrastructure to boost energy security
10 March 2025
Oil sands will be complemented by conventional and shale output growth and supply opportunities improved by the Trans Mountain Pipeline, but the tariff threat remains
