(MENAFN) Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, announced it is planning to increase its refining capacity by adding another 1.2 million barrels per day of oil to be refined in the next six years, compared with 2.2 million barrels of refining capacity at the end of 2013, Khaleej Times reported.
The Saudi Oil Ministry said that the increase in refining capacity will include the Satorp refinery, which is already up and running, and the Yasref refinery, which will start up in coming days, in a plan which is in line with changes that are happening in the global refining industry, which resulted in countries like India and China building highly complex and modern refineries, as a way of decreasing dependency on imports.
Saudi's investment in the refining sector has been a part of the government plans to achieve a diversified economic growth and employment for the Saudi population, with Saudi refining capacity totaling 2.5 mbpd in 2013, which is the largest capacity in the GCC region, with Kuwait a distant second at 940.000 bpd.
Saudi's decision to increase its refining capacity is attributed to large demands of oil in the country, which is the result of the growth in population, economic growth and improving living standards.
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