Iraq aims for self-sufficiency in oil derivatives by mid-2024: Minister

Shafaq News/ Oil Minister Haiyan Abdul-Ghani on Saturday said that Iraq seeks to achieve self-sufficiency in oil derivatives by the second quarter of 2024.

The minister made those remarks at the inauguration ceremony of the fourth distillation unit at the Southern Refineries Company in Basra.

The unit has a capacity of 70,000 barrels per day.

"This unit shall provide large quantities of oil derivatives, including naphtha, gas oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, and others, to cover a large part of the local demand," Abdul-Ghani said in a speech.

He added that the project is a priority of the government's program and was completed in a record time by domestic efforts after the failure of foreign companies.

For his part, the director general of the Southern Refineries Company, Hussam Hussein Wali, said in a speech that the company had honored its commitments to the government and the ministry by completing the project within the planned period.

He explained that the company seeks to contribute to both achieving self-sufficiency and improving the quality of oil products offered to the country.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Oil, Asim Jihad, said that the inauguration of the fourth unit with a capacity of 70,000 barrels per day will contribute to increasing the total refining capacity of the Southern Refineries Company to 280,000 barrels per day.

He added that the next phase will witness the establishment of a polymerization unit to improve the quality of products at the refinery, in addition to the FFC project, which is a promising plan to upgrade oil products to Euro 5 standards.