Asia to spearhead global refinery CDU capacity additions through 2024

Asia is expected to have the highest crude distillation unit (CDU) capacity additions, contributing about 42% of the global CDU capacity additions by 2024, reports GlobalData.

According to the company’s latest analysis, Asia is likely to witness a total CDU capacity of 2.7mn b/d by 2024, of which nearly 1.3mn b/d will come from planned projects that have received necessary approvals for development.

Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: ‘Asia is expected to witness the start of operations of 11 new-build CDU refineries by 2024. Of these, eight are planned and the remaining three are announced refineries. China’s Yulong and Jieyang are the largest upcoming CDU refineries in the region, each with a capacity of 400,000 b/d by 2024.’

GlobalData identifies the Middle East as the second highest contributor to the global CDU capacity additions, contributing around 23% by 2024. All the six upcoming projects in the region are planned projects. Al-Zour in Kuwait is the largest, with a capacity of 614mn b/d by 2024. Jizan in Saudi Arabia is the second largest, with a capacity of 400mn b/d.

Africa ranks third across the globe, contributing about 18% of world’s CDU capacity additions during the outlook period 2020–2024. The region has 12 upcoming projects, of which nine are planned and three are announced. Lagos I is the largest, with a capacity of 650mn b/d by 2024.

Figure 1: Total refinery CDU capacity by key regions, 2020–2024, in mn b/d
Source: GlobalData