Iraq has started construction on a long-planned $6-billion refinery in the country’s southern-border province of Missan.
In a recent groundbreaking ceremony, Iraq’s Deputy Minister for Refining Deiaa Jaafar laid the first cornerstone for the proposed 150,000-b/d refinery, which is being built by a consortium of Swiss company Satarem and Wahan Co. of China, according to a release from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.
The country’s first refinery to be constructed as part of Iraq’s invitation to global public investors to help boost domestic refining capacity (OGJ Online, June 29, 2010), the project will be funded by funded by the Export-Import Bank of China and China Development Bank, Jaafar said.
Iraqi state-owned Missan Oil Co. will operate the refinery on behalf of owners Wahan 85% and Satarem 15%, according to Jaafar.
A timetable for the project’s completion was not disclosed.
Iraq, which initially signed a contract with Satarem in October 2013 for the Missan refinery’s construction (OGJ Online, Dec. 2, 2013), plans an additional three refineries that will add more than 700,000 b/d to its national refining capacity, including the 300,000-b/d Nassiriya refinery, 150,000-b/d Kirkuk refinery, and the 140,000-b/d Karbala refinery (OGJ Online, June 4, 2013).
The Karbala refinery, which began construction in February 2014, is due to be commissioned by 2020 (OGJ Online, June 25, 2015; Apr. 8, 2015; Feb. 26, 2014).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].