Commercial production at Iraq’s Karbala oil refinery will start in mid-March 2023, Qatar News Agency reported, citing Iraq’s oil minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani.
The refinery’s production will expand gradually to reach its full capacity of 140,000 barrels per day by the end of July, he stated.
The minister said that the refinery will produce Grade 95 high-octane gasoline, with an initial capacity ranging from eight to nine million litres per day, for domestic consumption. The capacity could be increased to 12 million litres, covering up to 75% of Iraq’s domestic consumption.
In July, Reuters reported that production at Karbala refinery would begin by the end of 2022.
Karbala is Iraq’s first new refinery in decades and was initially due on stream in 2018, but the project was delayed due to pressure on Iraq’s finances, especially during the pandemic when oil prices plummeted. A South Korean consortium led by Hyundai was awarded a $6.4 billion contract to construct the refinery back in 2014.
