The Port Fao oil refinery will also include a petrochemical plant, reported Reuters.
The ministry plans to come up with three more oil refineries in the country. It is currently in pursuit of investors to finance the projects, with two of them to have a capacity of 150,000bpd and the third to have a 100,000bpd capacity.
The two 150,000bpd capacity oil refineries are planned to be built in the city of Nasiriyaand, in the Al Anbar Governorate.
The third oil refinery has been planned to be built in Qayara, about 60km south of Mosul.
Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said that the Port Fao oil refinery is in line with the ministry’s plans to boost the country’s petrochemicals sector for export purposes, thereby boosting the national economy.
Iraq, which is the second largest oil producer in Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), behind Saudi Arabia, has seen a decline in its refining capacity.
Earlier this month, the Iraqi oil ministry had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BP to ramp up the production capacity of oil fields located in the northern Kirkuk region.
The country has also signed a MoU with US energy firm Orion Energy to process natural gas produced from the giant Nahr Bin Omar oil field located in the province of Basra.
Under the terms of the MoU, Orion Gas Processors will construct facilities required to capture the gas produced from the field and then transform it into usable fuels.
