Iraq signs local firm for installation of Kirkuk refinery
A worker checks the valves at Al-Sheiba oil refinery in Basra, Iraq, January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s oil ministry signed a contract with a local company for the installation of an oil refinery in Kirkuk province, Alsumaria News reported on Thursday.
The network said the ministry signed the deal with an Iraqi company for the reconstruction of a refinery with a production capacity of 70.000 barrels per day.
Kirkuk province council’s energy and oil committee declared in 2016 that a company had submitted an offer to install a USD500 million refinery, with a production capacity of 70.000 barrels per day.
Iraq is OPEC’s second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, with a production capacity of 4.8 million barrels per day.
Iraq exported 109.57 million barrels last december, with revenues worth USD6.49 billion, according to statistics by the country’s oil marketing company SOMO.
Production from Kirkuk had stopped due to Baghdad’s dispute with Kurdistan Region Government over sovereignty in Kirkuk and the management of oil facilities there.
Iraqi forces took over oil facilities in the province in October, following a military operation ordered by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The operation was carried out in response to a referendum the autonomous region held in September on secession from Iraq.