Maysan: Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani confirmed that the refining capacity of Iraqi refineries will soon reach 542,000 barrels per day. A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office stated that Al-Sudani launched the implementation work on the Maysan refinery development project today, Sunday, and the expansion of its refining capacity from 40,000 to 110,000 barrels per day, during his visit to the governorate, which he arrived at this afternoon.
According to National Iraqi News Agency, Al-Sudani explained that this year’s Eid will be marked by the spirit of hard work, which will continue across various service and economic sectors. He emphasized that the Maysan refinery development and expansion project has been one of the stalled projects since 2014. The government embarked on it as part of its approach to completing all stalled and suspended projects. It will be implemented through national effort and local cadres, and will be operational within a record period of six to eight months.
He pointed to the Baiji refinery expansion project, which added 70,000 barrels per day to the refining capacity and will enter service within two months. This project was also completed through national effort and local expertise, raising the refining capacity of all Iraqi refineries to 542,000 barrels per day, a record level achieved for the first time in the Iraqi oil industry.
Al-Sudani emphasized that Maysan, which stood up to dictatorship and contributed to building the new Iraq, deserves this attention and care in every respect.
He explained that the project is part of the government’s drive to achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum derivatives and convert 40% of exported oil into petroleum products, due to the significant revenues it generates. He continued: “We talked about a 10-year period to achieve this goal, but these projects will reach 40% of our oil exports by 2030.”
He added that with the Cabinet’s approval to resume work on the Maysan Refinery project, we are looking at an industrial oil city, qualified to launch petrochemical and fertilizer projects.
Al-Sudani emphasized that these projects will provide thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities.
He explained that the growth in these projects and programs is the true reform of the Iraqi economy, which suffers from its single-source dependence on oil exports.
It is worth noting that the Maysan Refinery Development Project, in its two phases, includes the construction of a new, world-class unit with a capacity of 70,000 barrels per day. This will contribute to increasing the refinery’s capacity and the establishment of complementary units, including a hydrogenation and gasoline improvement unit, an FCC unit, a gas oil unit, and a kerosene unit, in addition to environmentally friendly service units. It will work to secure the needs of Maysan Governorate and neighboring governorates for petroleum derivatives.