Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq is approaching self-sufficiency in gasoline production through the expansion of its oil refining projects in the northern refineries, Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani said on Friday, affirming that the next stage will focus on exporting surplus fuel abroad.

The North Refineries complex in Baiji forms the centerpiece of Iraq’s national plan to reduce reliance on imported fuel, with reconstruction and expansion efforts aimed at restoring production capacity to 600,000 barrels per day and adding modern units to produce high-octane gasoline.

Abdul Ghani explained to Shafaq News that the North Refineries Project, which suffered extensive destruction during the ISIS occupation, has been fully rehabilitated following liberation operations. The Ministry of Oil has restored operations with a refining capacity of 380,000 barrels per day.

He described the $3.75 billion Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) project—funded through a Japanese loan—as a landmark step in Iraq’s energy independence. Using heavy fuel oil, the facility will produce high-octane gasoline, diesel, and LPG, significantly reducing import needs.

"The annual cost of importing petroleum products once reached $5 billion but dropped to less than a quarter last year," Abdul Ghani pointed out, adding that “with the completion of this project, imports of white products will cease.”

He also noted the recent inauguration of the fourth refining unit at the South Refineries and the Azmerah unit, as well as the opening of the fats refinery in Baiji a month ago — the first of its kind in Iraq — which now provides about 70% of the country’s demand for more than 14 types of industrial fats.