Iraq to begin new refinery project within 30 days in push to increase production

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraq oil ministry announced a new refinery project in the eastern Maysan province to be implemented within 30 days in a push to immediately increase overall oil production.

Maysan International Company will complete the new project within 30 days which will produce 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said in a statement on Monday.

If Maysan does not complete the project within the time frame given, the contract will be cancelled “barring any financial or legal consequences,” the minister said.

Over the weekend, the ministry also announced the names of 26 international countries that are pre-qualified to take part in bidding for “borderline onshore and offshore exploration blocks and fields” contracts that submitted qualification documents between August and November of 2017.

The qualified countries interested in bidding on different projects must pay the Iraqi government $100,000 as a participation fee before they can submit their bids.

The oil ministry also announced last month they are now accepting bids from potential builders for a new oil pipeline to run from the Kirkuk to Turkey’s Cehyan port on the Mediterranean coast.

Baghdad, by deploying Iraqi forces and Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias, increased its control of several oil and gas fields in the Kurdistani or disputed territories from Kurdish forces in October 2017 in response to the referendum vote for independence held in September.

Luaibi also said over the weekend that they will start to export up to 60,000 bpd of Kirkuk’s oil via truck to Iran before the end of January.

His Iranian counterpart, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, told Rudaw last year that the two sides may construct a pipeline from Kirkuk to Iran’s western province of Kermanshah in the future as well.

Iraq is the second largest crude oil producer within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after Saudi Arabia with an average output of 4.4 million barrels per day (bpd).