Iraq to build new refinery with major Chinese investment

Iraq will build an oil refinery at the port city of Al-Faw with two Chinese companies, and is searching for investors to build three more elsewhere in the country, according to Reuters.

The Al-Faw refinery will have a 300,000 barrel-per-day capacity.

Two other refineries are planned for Nasiriya, in southern Iraq, and in the western Anbar province.

Both will have a smaller 150,000-bpd capacity.

The third refinery is planned for Qayara, near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which Islamic State fighters held until last year – it will have a 100,000-bpd capacity.

Iraq is a major oil exporter and the second-largest OPEC producer after Saudi Arabia. But conflict has badly damaged production capabilities in recent years – the Islamic State overran the country’s largest oil processing plant in Baiji, north of Baghdad, in 2014.

Iraqi forces recaptured the city in 2015, but production has stalled.

The Doura refinery, in Baghdad, and the Shuaiba plant, in the south, drive Iraq's current oil production.