Iraq has started construction on a long-planned refinery in southern Karbala Province, 100 km south of Baghdad ( OGJ Online, Aug. 1, 2011 ). In a recent groundbreaking ceremony, Iraq’s Prime Minister Noori Al-Maliki laid the first cornerstone for the refinery, which is being built by a four-company consortium of South Korean companies led by Hyundai Engineering & Construction ( OGJ Online, Jan. 9, 2014 ), according to a Feb. 25 release from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. Delayed construction on the $6.04 billion refinery resulted from political circumstances facing Iraq, particularly Baath regime policies of sabotage, Al-Maliki said during the ceremony. The planned 140,000-b/d Karbala refinery, which will contain more than 20 processing units to produce liquefied gas, gasoline, gas oil, fuel oil, jet fuel, and asphalt meeting international standards equivalent to European production, will serve growing domestic Iraqi demand, Iraq’s Minister of Oil Abdulkareem Liaybi said. The […]