Iraq’s state-owned North Refineries Company (NRC) on 16 September signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with Swedish firm Seab and Turkish conglomerate Limak Holding to build a new 70,000 b/d Qayara refinery in Mosul as an “investment project.” The facility is needed to process 17.2°API heavy sour crude produced from the nearby Qayara field, where Angola’s national oil company Sonangol is producing around 10,000 b/d.
The existing 14,000 b/d Qayara refinery has been offline since March (MEES, 18 June). Baghdad previously envisaged a new 90,000 b/d refinery at the site but struggled to secure partners (MEES, 11 September 2020). Seab says the company has been in negotiations with the ministry of oil for “over a year” and that it hopes to ink a final contract within three months. (CONTINUED - 289 WORDS)
