Iraq’s downstream sector is continuing to attract service providers and contractors from all over the world. Many companies are taking part in ongoing projects. Iraq’s 10-year strategic plan calls for refining capacity to be increased from 600 000 bpd to 1.6 million bpd by 2017. This capacity is expected to double again by 2030, driven by increased transportation fuel demand within Iraq.
Italian Specialist cable manufacturer Tratos Cavi announced in late March that it has received a contract to supply Iraq’s state-owned Midland Refineries Company (MRC) with cables for installation at the Daura Refinery in Baghdad. The Daura refinery, located in the south of Baghdad, was constructed in 1953 and started operation in 1955.
It produces 3 million litres of gasoline, 1.5 million litres of kerosene and 2 million litres of gas oil a day, along with other products going to local power plants and industrial use.
In 2011, Iraq awarded multi-million dollar contracts to contractors from all over the world. France’s catalysts providers also announced last year that it won a contract from South Refineries Company (SRC), a subsidiary of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, to perform basic engineering, design and license contracts for the construction of the new 150,000 bpd refinery in Maissan, Southern Iraq.
Axens said in a statement that it will also supply various supply technologies for the refinery including a naphtha hydrotreater with a capacity of 35,100 bpd, a CCR reformer for gasoline production and a vaccum gas oil hydrotreater producing a moderate sulfur feedstock for the fluid catalytic cracker.
The company will also provide a deasphalted oil hydrotreater, a saturated Liquefied Petroleum Gas treatment unit, and an unsaturated LPG treatment unit.
Egypt’s private equity firm Citadel Capital announced in the second half 2011 that it had signed a contract with the Iraqi Oil Ministry to build an oil refinery in the country with capacity of 150,000 tonnes per day, Reuters has reported. The Egyptian company has added that the ministry has responsibility for procuring raw materials and products for the plant for the first 15 years of operations.
Last year, The State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP), under the Ministry of Oil for Iraq, selected Honeywell’s UOP to provide key technologies to process 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of domestic crude oil into gasoline and diesel fuel at the new facility in Nassiriya, Iraq.
This market dynamism has prompted many companies to open offices in the country, or to increase their presence to better serve their clients.
Honeywell announced an expansion of its Iraqi investment in December 2011 with the opening of a full-service office in Basra. Honeywell’s second office to open in Iraq since 2010 further strengthens the company’s commitment to its customers and partners.
Honeywell will use its new office to deliver automation and control equipment and services. The new facility will also support the company’s training and sales capabilities throughout the country.
“Iraq is on track to become a leading supplier of oil to the world within the next decade. To do this, the country and its workforce require significant private enterprise investment,” said Chris Spear, vice president for New Growth Countries, Honeywell Process Solutions.
“Honeywell is fully committed to playing a role in Iraq’s reconstruction and development efforts, providing best-in-class technology as well as training the Iraqi oil and gas industry and workforce.”
