Page 6 - MEOG Week 36

MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG

Iraqi oil minister

orders ramp-up at

Baiji oil refinery

Iraq has announced ambitious plans for its refining sector in recent years and has
a strong incentive to expand capacity, but implementation has proved difficult

IRAQ IRAQI Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail reconstructed, according to Simm.
last week ordered the processing capacity of “The 170,000 bpd Northern Plant unit
the Sumood oil refinery in Baiji to be raised to requires significantly more repair work, though
WHAT: 280,000 barrels per day (bpd). the government has optimistically set a comple-
Iraq’s oil ministry has In a statement, Ismail said throughput was tion date of 2023,” Simm said.
ordered the capacity currently at 75,000 bpd but was expected to Ambitious plans
of the Sumood refinery reach 140,000 bpd over the coming few months. After years of conflict and economic difficul-
to be raised to 140,000 The 280,000 bpd level should be achieved “as ties, Iraq’s only fully functional refinery is the
bpd within months, and soon as possible,” he said, without providing a 210,000 bpd Shuaiba plant near Basra. Shuaiba
eventually 280,000 bpd. timeframe for getting to this goal. is undergoing expansion work to raise its capac-
Sumood was once Iraq’s second-largest refin- ity to 280,000 bpd, and Japan’s JGC was hired last
WHY: ery, operating at a rate of 310,000 bpd. month to build fluid catalytic cracking, vacuum
The refinery in Baiji was “But having been severely damaged during distillation and diesel desulphurisation units at
significantly damaged the ISIS invasion and occupation, and again the site, for $3.75bn.
during the ISIS invasion when it was retaken by Iraqi forces, the unit’s While Shuaiba meets fuel needs in Iraq’s
and occupation and when throughput capacity has fallen to just 75,000 south, the 140,000 bpd Daura refinery supplies
it was retaken by Iraqi bpd,” Ian Simm, principal advisor at consultancy the growing market in Baghdad. The Sumood
forces. IGM Energy, told NewsBase. refinery’s restoration will help take some of the
Production currently comes mainly from burden off Daura.
WHAT NEXT: the 70,000 bpd Salahuddin-2 unit, but the min- Iraq is also building the new Karbala refinery
Iraq has long struggled istry’s talk of raising capacity to 140,000 bpd south-west of Baghdad, which will handle up to
to advance refining suggests the restart of the Salahuddin-1 unit, 200,000 bpd of oil.
projects, amid conflict where hydrogen and gasoline facilities have been That project was first proposed back in 2007.
and economic and
financing difficulties.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 09•September•2020