Hyundai begins gasoline production trial at Basra Refinery
Shafaq News – Seoul
South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company (Hyundai E&C) has completed the main construction works at the Basra Refinery upgrading facilities in southern Iraq and launched trial operations to produce gasoline.
According to a statement, the milestone was marked by a ceremony in October, attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani, South Korean Ambassador to Iraq Lee Joon-il, and Hyundai E&C Plant Division Head Ryu Sung-an.
Awarded to Hyundai in 2020, the $1.4 billion project was carried out in partnership with Japan’s JGC Corporation under an EPC turnkey format (engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning). The upgraded facility—located about 450 kilometers southeast of Baghdad—can process heavy oil residues into high-value products such as gasoline and diesel, with a capacity of up to 24,000 barrels of gasoline per day.
The project, completed over 60 months without reported accidents, the statement said, represents a “key step in modernizing Iraq’s refining infrastructure.”
Despite holding some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, Iraq continues to depend on imported gasoline due to aging or war-damaged refineries. “Once the Basra unit becomes fully operational early next year, it is expected to reduce imports and increase revenues from domestic crude production.”
A Hyundai E&C representative considered the company’s “success” as a “global-standard safety and quality systems,” reaffirming Hyundai’s “long-standing partnership with the Iraqi government,” which has awarded the firm several major contracts, including the Water Injection Plant (WIP) and Karbala Refinery projects.
Hyundai, which first entered Iraq in 1978 through the Basra sewer project, has since built around 40 key facilities worth a combined $12 billion. The company said it now aims to diversify its plant portfolio, expanding into eco-friendly and high-value industrial projects across the Middle East.
