The Minister of Oil has announced the start of pumping crude oil to Karbala refinery, marking the start of trial operation of the refinery production units.
The Minister of Oil, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, said that the refinery has a capacity of 140,000 barrels per day and will help partially in meeting local needs and reduce imports in the coming period, praising the national efforts, the consortium of Korean companies and all the parties who supported the project.
The Minister Undersecretary for Refining Affairs, Dr. Hamid Younis, said that, as the first stage of producing oil products with high quality specifications, the crude oil pumping operations have been started in preparation for operating production units and starting of refining operations and the actual production of the refinery before the end of this year, then the second stage, which will start in the first quarter of the coming year and is hoped to contribute in meeting a big part of domestic need, noting that Karbala refinery was established according to international standards and technology which is adopted in producing oil products with high quality.
The Director General of Midland Refineries Company, Ayed Jabir Omran, who turned the pumping wheel on behalf of the Minister of Oil, explained that the start of pumping crude oil to the production units in the refinery is an important step to speed up production and refining operations, that will save millions of liters of petroleum products per day, and that national efforts, in collaboration with the consortium of Korean companies, have made it possible to solve the medical and economic problems faced by the project with determination, and cooperation, and today we are reaping the benefits of this.
The Minister of Oil instructed during H.E visit to the refinery last month to expedite start-up operations, which will be a major turning point in Iraq oil refining industry.
