The Syrian Petroleum Company resumed work at Baniyas Refinery in Tartous (western Syria) at full production capacity on Monday, May 18, after completing partial engineering maintenance work on schedule.
The company said through its official accounts that technical and engineering teams had completed the required maintenance, contributing to raising the refinery’s operational readiness and ensuring stable supplies of oil derivatives to the local market.
Hamza al-Waraa, director of engineering maintenance, said the Syrian Petroleum Company’s engineering teams carried out engineering works that required a full shutdown of the refinery. The works included the distillation, reforming, hydrogenation, and steam circuits sections across different parts of the facility.
Al-Waraa said the most notable works included welding the live steam manifold line, the reduction station, and the electrical connection valves for boilers five, one, and three.
They also included connecting electrical cables at the first and third transformer stations, and supplying power to the 106-A1 fans in the reforming section.
The Syrian Petroleum Company is implementing radiation protection and assessment operations at Baniyas Refinery in cooperation with the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission to “ensure a safe and sustainable work environment.”
The radiation condition was assessed, and in the next phase, radioactive contamination will be removed from equipment, facilities, and oil sludge to ensure the application of the highest occupational safety standards in the facilities.
What Is Its Capacity?
According to the official website of Baniyas Refinery Company, the refinery was designed with an annual capacity of 6 million tons of crude oil, a mix of light oil and heavy Syrian oil, with refining ratios ranging from 80% light oil by weight and 20% heavy oil to 50% light oil and 50% heavy oil.
Since 1988, annual refining has exceeded design capacity, reaching between 102% and 117.08%. This includes fuel oil and naphtha received from the General Company for Homs Refinery, as well as commercial activity for other derivatives.
Iraqi Tankers
On May 2, Baniyas Refinery raised the number of Iraqi tankers unloaded daily to about 500 after carrying out technical and engineering work that helped increase operational capacity by 30% and save about 40 working hours, in a step it said: “contributes to strengthening work readiness and accelerating the pace of supply.”
The improvement came as a result of developing unloading routes and enabling direct pumping into designated tanks, which positively affects completion speed and the continuity of market supply.
Earlier this month, Turkish Ambassador to Syria Nuh Yilmaz visited Baniyas Refinery, where he inspected its departments and work mechanisms during a field tour.
Baniyas Refinery, affiliated with the Syrian Ministry of Energy, had received modern specialized equipment to implement a project replacing the bodies and components of its reactors, in a project the ministry described as “strategic” and “the largest modernization project in the company since its establishment.”
Baniyas Refinery was established in 1975 and is located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the city of Baniyas in the countryside of Tartous governorate. It is one of Syria’s most prominent oil refining facilities and the second largest refinery in Syria after Homs Refinery. It refines crude oil and provides essential oil derivatives to the local market.
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