Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani on Saturday inaugurated the Karbala Oil Refinery, which will provide 70% of Iraq’s need for oil products and $3 billion for the Iraqi treasury.

In a speech during the opening ceremony, Al Sudani said the refinery represents a real strategic project implemented for the first time since the eighties of the last century in Iraq, and it was implemented in accordance with international standards related to the environment and the latest technology.

The project will provide 60 to 70 percent of Iraq’s need for oil products, which it used to import at around $3 billion annually, he added, pointing out that this project will be run by 100% Iraqi staff.

Al Sudani’s office stated that the Karbala refinery is the first refinery in Iraq that operates with modern technologies, and the purity of the produced gasoline reaches a degree of 95 octane.

The office said the white refinery’s products are produced according to the latest European specifications, and that it will spare Iraq the import of many crude derivatives, while it operates with a production capacity of 140,000 barrels per day.

Karbala Oil Refinery includes 33 operational, service, and storage units with large production capacities. It also consists of integrated terminals, a station for pumping oil derivatives and petroleum products to external terminals, and a power plant with a capacity of 200 MW, with four units, each of which operates with a capacity of 50 MW to provide the refinery with electricity. It will supply 60 MW to the National Electricity Transmission Grid.

Source: Qatar News Agency