Colorado company wins Iraq contract

BAGHDAD- Iraq’s oil ministry has signed a contract with Colorado Industrial Construction Services Co. to help expand a refinery in Najaf, south of Baghdad, an official said Wednesday.

The $85 million contract is designed to increase the refinery’s current production of 20,000 barrels of oil per day by roughly 10,000 barrels per day, a senior ministry official said.

Colorado company wins Iraq contract; The Denver Post;
Thursday March 20, 2008; 6B; Business; Briefs

Iraqi Oil Ministry: Colorado company to expand Najaf refinery

BAGHDAD- Iraq’s oil ministry has signed a contract with Colorado Industrial Construction Services Co. to help expand a refinery in Najaf, south of Baghdad, an official said Wednesday.

The $85 million contract is designed to increase the refinery’s current production of 20,000 barrels of oil per day by roughly 10,000 barrels per day, a senior ministry official said.

“We are expecting the wok to be done in one year or one year and a half,” the official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to release the information.

The Colorado-based company did not respond to telephone calls seeking confirmation.

The refinery, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, was constructed in October 2006 to help meet increasing needs in central Iraq for petroleum products, including kerosene.

The U.S. company will build a third production unit, the official said.

Last week, the oil ministry inaugurated a second production unit at the facility and pledged more refineries would be built across the country, including  Nasiriyah and Karbala, two other cities in the predominantly Shiite south.

Together the new refineries will be able to refine more than 450,000 barrels daily, it said.
 
Iraq’s three main oil refineries are running at roughly half the 7000,000 barrels daily capacity they maintained before the U.S.-led invasion on March 20, 2003.

The shortfall has forced Iraq to turn to imports from neighboring Iran, Kuwait and Turkey.

The country has been forced to import around 8,000 tons each day, or about 60,000 barrels, according to figures released last month by the State Oil Marketing Organization.

Insurgents frequently attack pipelines, hoping to rob the government of oil revenue.

Sinan Salaheddin Associated Press; Iraqi Oil Ministry: Colorado
company to expand Najaf refinery; denverpost.com; 03/19/2008

2 New Refinery Deals Close
Baghdad, 11 July 2008 (Associated Press)

Iraq’s Oil Ministry said Thursday that it is close to signing contracts to build two new oil refineries in southern Iraq.  The ministry is expected to sign one contract for a 300,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Nasiriyah province by the end of July or early August, a senior oil official said.

The official said the ministry was studying proposals presented by international companies to build another 150,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Karbala.  The official, who declined to name the companies, spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to make statements.

“There is no doubt that we will offer these contracts to well-known international companies in this field,” the official said.  He said the refineries would meet increasing need for oil products in central and southern Iraq and lead to a reduction in imports.

Nasiriyah is about 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of Baghdad, while Karbala about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the capital.

Iraq has the world’s third-largest known crude oil reserves, with an estimated 115 billion barrels, but it suffers acute shortages in petroleum refined products as most infrastructure was damaged or destroyed after years of U.N. sanctions and war.

Iraq’s three main oil refineries are running at roughly half the 700,000 barrels daily capacity they maintained before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

In 2006, the ministry  built a refinery in Najaf, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad.  It has a refining capacity of about 20,000 barrels per day.

Last March, the ministry declared a US$85 million deal with the Colorado Industrial Construction Services Co. to help expand the refinery by 10,000 barrels per day.

The shortfall has forced Iraq to turn to imports from neighboring Iran, Kuwait and Turkey.

The country has been forced to import around 8,000 tons each day, or about 60,000 barrels, according to figures released early this year by the State Oil Marketing Organization.

Insurgents have attacked pipelines, hoping to rob the government of oil revenue.  The number of attacks has dropped sharply since last year.

2 New Refinery Deals Close; Associated Press; Baghdad, Iraq; 11 July 2008