Aramco Delays Jazan Refinery Restart Amid Ongoing Disruptions

Saudi Aramco has delayed the restart of its 400,000-barrel-per-day Jazan oil refinery to August 30, according to an alert from industry monitor IIR seen by Reuters. The extended outage could further tighten global fuel markets already disrupted by refinery outages in the Middle East following the Iran war and by Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, potentially boosting refining margins.

A fire broke out early Sunday at a facility belonging to the refinery, but Aramco's firefighting teams were able to extinguish it. The July 27 attack damaged the refinery's Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) complex and tank farm area. Additionally, the refinery's 80,000-bpd reformer has been unexpectedly offline since May 27 due to operational issues.

Saudi fuel exports averaged about 1.32 million bpd in July, up from 1.16 million bpd in June but still roughly 30% below levels seen before the Iran war began in late February.