Six Arab oil refineries have been out of service for several years, with a wide range of reasons contributing to their inactivity, including financial crises, legal battles, wars that have damaged the facilities, and the economic impracticality of operating aging refineries. According to a survey conducted by the specialized energy platform based in Washington, the list includes Morocco's Samir refinery, Libya's Ras Lanuf, Sudan's Khartoum, Yemen's Aden, and both the Tripoli and Zahrani refineries in Lebanon. Among these, one refinery appears to be closer to resuming its refining operations than the others.
The fact that six Arab oil refineries are currently inactive does not imply that they all share the same fate. Libya is actively working to restart the Ras Lanuf refinery, having established a timeline for its operation. Meanwhile, the rehabilitation of the Khartoum and Aden refineries remains contingent upon technical and financial requirements. The situation of Lebanon’s refineries is fundamentally different due to their age and the diminishing economic viability of operating them at their current capacities.
The cases of these six refineries highlight a significant loss of refining capacity over the decades, during which some of the affected countries have increasingly relied on importing petroleum products to meet local demand.
Morocco's Samir Refinery
The Samir refinery in Mohammedia, Morocco, represents one of the most notable long-term shutdowns in the Arab refining sector, with its units going offline in August 2015 due to a financial crisis that culminated in the company's judicial liquidation. Prior to its shutdown, the refinery had a refining capacity of approximately 195,000 barrels per day, following a series of expansions that increased its capacity from 25,000 barrels per day since its inception in 1961, according to data from Morocco's energy sector.
Numerous attempts over the years to restart the Samir refinery or sell its assets to new investors have stumbled, most recently with a March 2026 rejection by the commercial court in Casablanca of a $3.5 billion Emirati offer to acquire the company's assets due to insufficient guarantees. The continued inactivity of the refinery has left Morocco heavily reliant on importing refined petroleum products, despite ongoing discussions regarding supply security and the revival of local refining operations.
Libya's Ras Lanuf Refinery
The situation of Libya's Ras Lanuf refinery differs significantly from that of Samir, as the National Oil Corporation has charted a path for restarting the country's largest refinery, which has been inactive since 2013. The refinery has a refining capacity of 220,000 barrels per day, and its shutdown was linked to an arbitration dispute between the National Oil Corporation and its former partner, Trasta Energy of the UAE. In 2026, an agreement was reached that ended the partnership, returning full ownership of the facility to the Libyan side.
According to the head of the National Oil Corporation, Masoud Suleiman, plans aim for a restart within a timeframe of six to twelve months, with maintenance costs estimated at around $60 million. The production is expected to start at about 200,000 barrels per day before gradually increasing to full capacity, making Ras Lanuf the most likely candidate for a return to refining activity among the six Arab oil refineries currently out of service.
Other cases, such as the Khartoum refinery, have been affected by the war in Sudan, rendering it out of service since July 2023, while the Aden refinery in Yemen has faced operational disruptions since 2015 due to supply interruptions, worsening conflicts, and technical issues. The Lebanese refineries have ceased operations for decades, with Tripoli and Zahrani now primarily engaged in importing, storing, and distributing petroleum products rather than refining crude oil. The varied situations of these six refineries illustrate the distinct challenges facing the refining industry across different Arab nations.
As reported by attaqa.net.
