Joint venture to operate Kurdistan region refinery

14 April 2014

Local-Philippines joint venture will refine up to 3,500 tonnes a day of oil from Iraqi Kurdistan

A joint venture of the Philippines’ Black Diamond Development & Exploration Company and the local Rezhwan Company has been appointed to operate a new refinery in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.

The new oil refinery, which is located near the region’s capital, Erbil, is expected to begin refining at the end of May.

Crude oil feedstock will be supplied from the Taq Taq field, which is being developed by UK-listed oil firm, Genel Energy.

The refinery will process up to 1,500 tonnes a day (t/d) of crude, or approximately 11,000 barrels a day (b/d), according to a statement from Black Diamond.

Crude will be transported by road tanker from the field, over 50 kilometres to the refinery. Output will be increased to 22,000 b/d in May.

Genel Energy estimates that the Kurdistan region of Iraq has a refining capacity of 160,000 b/d and expects this to increase to as much as 250,000 b/d by the end of 2013.

A MEED Subscription...

Subscribe or upgrade your current MEED.com package to support your strategic planning with the MENA region’s best source of business information. Proceed to our online shop below to find out more about the features in each package.