Iraq’s oil minister Ihsan Ismaael on Wednesday said the country would invite foreign firms to compete to build a new 300,000 bpd refinery in Fao, Basra. The refinery will be constructed under the Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) or Build Operate Transfer (BOT) investment model. Ismaeel added that a petrochemical production facility could be integrated with the refinery at a later phase.
Iraq’s deputy oil minister Hamid al-Zobai said the country is focusing on two projects to increase refining throughput to 910,000 bpd by the first quarter of 2022. Iraq wants to expand the crude processing facility at Baiji complex to 280,000 bpd in the next two years. It also plans to start up a 140,000 bpd greenfield refinery in Karbala by the first quarter of 2022.
In September, Ismaeel said that the government was in talks with Eni in a two-phase construction of a new 300,000 bpd refinery near Zubair field which the company operates. OPEC’s second-largest producer also has some plans to build new refineries, including a new 70,000 bpd plant near the Qayara oil field.
