Iraq plans new units at Qayara refinery

Iraq's oil ministry plans to build new refining units at its 20,000 b/d Qayara refinery in the north of the country, which will lift its total capacity to 90,000 b/d.

The project was announced today during an inspection of the aged refinery by oil minister Ihsan Ismael who was on a tour of Iraq's northern facilities at both Qayara and Baiji. Few details on the new project have been released by the oil ministry.

The existing 20,000 b/d Qayara refinery was built in 1955 south of Mosul and is operated by state-owned North Refineries Company. It processed heavy oil from the nearby Qayara oil field, but is no longer operating, one source said.

Baghdad has previously launched an investment plan for Qayara, seeking interest in the construction and operation of a new 100,000 b/d refinery in 2018. That was shortly before the resumption of oil production from the Qayara oil field at around 30,000 b/d. The field had been recaptured from Islamist group Isis in 2017 but had been badly damaged after the militants set a number of oil wells on fire.

The 100,000 b/d project was among a raft of new schemes launched by various oil ministers to boost Iraq's refining capacity to 1.5mn b/d by 2022, from around 875,000 b/d currently. The country has for many years struggled to produce enough oil products to meet growing domestic demand.

But most of the new refinery schemes have failed to secure investment. Only one project, the 140,000 b/d Karbala refinery in the south, has progressed and that will be funded entirely from the Iraqi budget. The oil ministry hopes to complete construction by 2023.

By Adal Mirza