The Iraqi government has outlined plans to build a new 150,000 bbl/d oil refinery in the northern city of Kirkuk, which will process the expected rising crude oil production in the region. Indeed, Kirkuk is currently estimated to hold around 9 Gboe of recoverable oil reserves.
In January 2018, the oil and gas major BP has inked an initial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Iraqi authorities to ramp up production from the Kirkuk oil field, three months after the government reclaimed the area from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The production of the field was entirely controlled by the KRG from 2014 until October 2017, when the central government reclaimed two thirds of the area. The Iraqi Ministry of Oil expects BP to more than double the production of the Kirkuk field to more than 700,000 bbl/d.
Iraq currently plans to retire part of the existing refining capacity and build new refineries. It aims at increasing the country's domestic refining capacity to more than 1.4 mb/d through several projects, including 140,000 bbl/d Karbala, 150,000 bbl/d Maysan and 150,000 bbl/d Kirkuk. In 2018, it also outlined plans to invite bidders for the development of three other refineries: two 150,000 bbl/d facilities in Nasiriya (southern Iraq) and in the western Anbar province, along with a 100,000 bbl/d refinery in the city of Qayyarah in the Mosul region.
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