Iraq is close to achieving its ambition to become a global oil refining hub, a report by S&P, a leading economics website, said on Thursday. Iraq’s ambitions to expand its refining capacity to export more refined products of higher value, are now closer to being realized, with two additional refineries in operation even as existing plants operate at less than capacity.
The report, which was translated by Al-Maalouma Agency, stated that “the refining capacity of the second largest oil producer in OPEC, excluding the refineries of the Kurdistan Region, has reached 1,215,000 barrels per day, according to exclusive data from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.”
He added, “There are two new refineries under construction, namely the Faw refinery, which was completed in cooperation with China to add 300,000 barrels per day of capacity, while the Council of Ministers approved on May 7th another refinery in Kirkuk to add 150,000 barrels per day.”
“A major step forward was taken last June when Iraq completed the upgrade of the gasoil pipeline from the Shuaiba Projects depot next to the Basra refinery to the southern Khor al-Zubair port to resume gasoil exports, marking the first exports of petroleum products. This was in addition to the new 70,000 bpd crude distillation unit at the Basra refinery which started up in December 2023, and the 150,000 bpd North Baiji refinery which was completed in February,” he continued.
Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani had previously stated that “the aim of the refinery expansion is to achieve self-sufficiency in demand for local products and perhaps export products, as ministry data showed that Iraq has declared self-sufficiency in gas oil since the beginning of this year and reduced gasoline imports by 50 percent by March, starting from the end of 2023.”
almaalomah.me
