Page 7 - MEOG Week 25 2021
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MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG
Karbala refinery
Source: ALE
Hussein added that “the atmospheric distil- programme.
lation unit and the low-pressure part of the light Of the new units, only Karbala has reached
distillate hydrogenation unit have been com- the construction phase, with Abdul Jabbar say-
pleted” and are operational. ing in May that the facility south of Baghdad is
Meanwhile, work remains “ongoing to recon- expected to come on stream in September 2022.
struct and rehabilitate part of the high-pressure A statement by the MoO at the time said the
hydrogenation unit of light distillates and the minister had “instructed the refinery’s manage-
gasoline improvement unit, in addition to the ment to expedite the completion of the technical
isomerisation unit”. measures required to supply the province’s elec-
As part of the same project, work was also tric power system with a generative capacity of
carried out to reconstruct and rehabilitate six 200-MW this summer”.
steam boilers, service units, as well as “tanks and The facility will comprise 35 operational and
their systems” within the refining complex. service units, including four gasoline production
Hussein said that “work is [also] continuing units, a thermal cracking unit, a poly-naphtha
to rehabilitate the damaged tanks, and construct unit to produce octane 95 and 90 fuels as well as
new tanks, as well as the rehabilitation of indus- 44 storage tanks.
trial water-handling units” at the refinery, with It is expected to produce LPG, gasoline, gas
the NRC preparing to begin reconstruction oil, fuel oil, jet fuel and asphalt to meet interna-
work soon. tional standards.
Last year, Deputy Oil Minister Hamid
Ambition Al-Zawbaei said that full commissioning of
The work at Daura and Salah al-Din forms the unit was anticipated in the first quarter of
a small part of a much wider and ambitious 2022 and the delay is believed to be largely the
long-standing effort by Iraq to dramatically result of logistics issues relating to the corona-
increase refining capacity, which currently virus (COVID-19) pandemic. A year earlier, he
stands at around 912,000 bpd, although its use- was quoted as saying that the facility was 78%
able capacity is understood to be significantly complete.
lower. The MoO awarded an engineering, procure-
These include doubling the 140,000 bpd ment and construction (EPC) contract a South
capacity of Baiji to reach pre-IS invasion levels, Korean consortium led by Hyundai Engineering
expanding the 210,000 bpd Shuaiba refinery at & Construction in early 2014 and work began in
Basra by 70,000 bpd as well as adding new refin- February that year.
eries at Haditha and Qayarah under NRC; Wasit, If all of Iraq’s refining plans come to fruition,
Karbala, Diwaniyah and Samawa under MRC; the country would have a total nameplate capac-
and Nassiriyah and Missan under the South ity of around 2.2mn bpd. Given its track record,
Refineries Co., each with capacities ranging from this appears unlikely to occur in the medium
70,000 bpd to 300,000 bpd, though there is some term; however, these latest announcements pro-
uncertainty about the figures reported. vide significant encouragement, though much
Four of the new facilities have been on will depend on Baghdad’s ability to attract part-
the drawing board since 2007, when Bagh- ners capable of succeeding where others have so
dad launched a downstream development far failed.
Week 25 23•June•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7
