Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has re-appealed for financing for two refineries it proposes to build in Diwaniya and Samawah, after failing to attract investors in a previous bid submission round.

The ministry has set a deadline of 30 October for potential investors to submit their proposals for both the planned refineries, extending it from 31 July.

Investment portfolio and other relevant documents for the refineries are available with the ministry until 2 September, it said in a statement.

MEED in February reported that the ministry had signed a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with state-owned PetroChina for the Samawa refinery, and awarded its subsidiary Sepco a $1.8bn contract for the main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the project.

According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, the EPC contract was later awarded to a Russian firm named IMPA, for unknown reasons.

Both the refineries are planned to have a refining capacity of 70,000 barrels a day.

Baghdad has offered up the planned refinery for investment based on the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) or the build-own-operate (BOO) model, according to the country’s specific law for investments in refinery projects.

Investments to increase refining capacities of vital units as well as into the national distribution network has helped Baghdad meet domestic need, along with the growth in output of liquefied gas products.