Iran is in the process of securing a credit line from China that would finance the rehabilitation and modernization of Iran’s 400,000-b/d Abadan refinery, the country’s oldest and largest crude oil processing complex.
Detailed design work for the refinery’s expansion project currently is under way, with construction scheduled to begin soon after these preliminary efforts are completed, said Abbas Kazemi, managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Co. (NIORDC), in a notice posted the website of Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum (MOP).
The revamp project at Abadan aims to stabilize overall operations at the refinery, which will include modernizing and expanding processing technology used at the plant’s units in order to yield an increased production slate of fuels adhering to Euro 5 quality specifications, according to Kazemi and to a description of the project on NIORDC’s website.
In addition to renovating and replacing outdated installations and units to maximize gasoline production, the project also involves work to increase the refinery’s production of feedstocks for associated petrochemical plants, as well as reduce its emissions of environmental pollutant and production of fuel oil.
NIORDC also plans to build a new 210,000-b/d processing train as part of the Abadan project that would include units for crude distillation, hydrotreating, continuous catalytic reforming, hydrocracking, isomerization, hydrogen production, amine treatment, as well as units for sulfur and LPG recovery, according to NIORDC.
NIORDC estimates Abadan’s upgrading and modernization project will cost about 2.6 billion euros, the notice from MOP said.
While a revised timetable for start-up of a fully modernized Abadan refinery was not disclosed, NIORDC previously targeted a project completion date of 2018-19, according to the company’s website.
