It does not have the glamour of wildcatting in distant frontiers, nor the customer visibility of petrol stations, but oil refining is a critical part of the industry. It turns the gloopy black crude oil into the carefully tailored products, from petrol, diesel and jet fuel, to lubricants and feedstocks. A key part of Middle Eastern investment plans, refining is entering a more complex and pressured decade. Instead of exporting raw materials, refining has traditionally been seen as a way for oil producers to ‘add value’ to their product. Refining margins also tend to outperform when oil prices drop. More recently, Middle Eastern states, notably Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, have sought to guarantee offtake by investing in mega-refineries in their key emerging Asian markets, China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and others. And they have added petrochemical complexes to generate higher-value and more sophisticated outputs. Still, refining faces […]