Karbala Refinery to provide 70% of Iraq’s needs for oil derivatives
The Karbala refinery. Photo: Iraqi Oil Report
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, confirmed on Saturday that the Karbala oil refinery will provide 70 percent of Iraq’s needs for oil products, and will save billions of dollars spent on imports.
During a speech he delivered in the opening ceremony, Al-Sudani said that the refinery is a strategic project implemented for the first time since the eighties.
The project implemented according to international standards and the latest technology will provide 60- 70 percent of Iraq’s needs for oil products, which it used to import at around three billion USD annually.
The Iraqi Prime Minister stated that Iraq is classified as an oil-rich country that produces more than 4.5 million barrels per day, but imports oil derivatives that cost billions of dollars.
Al-Sudani mentioned that Iraq must benefit from its wealth to cover its needs and be an influential and active country in the gas, oil, and petrochemicals market, noting that this project is the largest in the refining sector in the past four decades.
“We are looking forward to signing contracts with international companies to implement projects in all sectors, such as gas, petrochemicals, and refineries, both inside and outside Iraq,” Al-Sudani said.
The Prime Minister’s press office mentioned in a statement that the refinery’s production capacity is 140 thousand barrels per day.
A source at the refinery mentioned last January that commercial production would begin with an operational capacity of 60 percent, adding that Iraq aims to operate the refinery at full capacity by next July, Reuters reported.