> Israel’s two refineries notched up throughputs of 99% of their combined 296,000 b/d CDU capacity in the first half of 2015: for Q1 record throughputs of 309,000 b/d were well in excess of the nameplate maximum. This comes on the back of near-100% runs for 2014. Added together with shipping data, this indicates that the two plants are continuing to gorge themselves on cut-price crude from Iraqi Kurdistan.
> The KRG has increased its independent crude exports from the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan to around 400,000 b/d in recent months (MEES, 11 September). With Baghdad continuing to threaten legal action against buyers (see p13), Israel, which has no diplomatic relations with Iraq and thus nothing to lose, has remained the largest buyer of KRG crude. (CONTINUED - 315 WORDS)
