JGC Holdings Corp. (Yokohama, Japan) has received the Letter of Award for the Basrah Refinery Upgrading Project for South Refineries Co., an Iraqi oil refining company, under the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. The project includes work on several refiner units, including a fluid catalytic cracking unit (34,500 barrels/day); a vacuum distillation unit (55,000 barrels/day); a diesel desulfurization unit (40,000 barrels/day); and more. The lump-sum contract amounts to approximately 400 billion JPY ($3.75 billion). Completion of the new refinery Is expected in 2025.
Iraq is one of the world’s leading oil-producing countries, with a confirmed crude oil reserve of 145 billion barrels and a daily crude oil production of 4.41 million barrels. However, the two refineries currently in operation were constructed in the 1970s and their production capacity has decreased due to war damage and deterioration. Unable to meet domestic demand for petroleum products, Iraq has to import petroleum products such as gasoline.
This upgrading of the Basrah refinery will newly install, on land adjacent to the existing Basrah refinery, fluid catalytic cracking unit, vacuum distillation unit, and diesel desulfurization unit, etc., thereby increasing production to 19,000 barrels/day of gasoline and 36,000 barrels/day of diesel fuel, making it possible to reduce the gap in supply and demand for petroleum products.
In addition, the petroleum products produced at the modernized refinery will meet international environmental standards and it is expected that they will contribute to reducing the environmental impact. This project is positioned as spearheading the modernization and sophistication of Iraq’s oil refining sector.