Iraq is planning to invite bids for five new oil refineries as the OPEC producer is pushing ahead with a post-war scheme to rehabilitate its hydrocarbon industry and other sectors, the country’s Oil Minister said in remarks published on Thursday.

Hayan Abdel Ghani said the new units would add more than 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to Iraq’s refining capacity that will support its bid to diversify its economy.

Quoted by Shafaq News and other Iraq publications, Abdel Ghani said the new projects comprise a 150,000-bpd refinery in the South-eastern Maysan Governorate, a 100,000-bpd refinery in Muthanna in the South, a refinery with a similar output in Kirkuk in central Iraq, a 150,000-bpd refinery in the Sothern Dhi Qar Governorate, and a 70,000-bpd unit in Nineveh in North Iraq.

Abdel Ghani said another project involves the construction of a second unit in the existing Dhi Qar refinery to boost production by 70,000 bpd.

“The Oil Ministry will in the near future offer these projects as investment opportunities as part of its plans to expand Iraq’s refining production,” he said.
Source: Reuters (Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)