The Oil Ministry has prepared two sets of substantive agreements for investors regarding the construction of new refineries and the development of existing refineries, the deputy oil minister for planning said.
“The projects are in line with the need to move from crude oil sales to completing the value chain and supporting the development of downstream industries,” Houshang Falahatian was also quoted as saying by Fars News Agency said.
“We hope that by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2024), the Southern Adish Refinery in the Siraf region, with a refining capacity of 60,000 barrel per day, will be become operational,” he added.
The official noted that with the injection of $550 million into the 120,000-bpd Mehr Persian Gulf Refinery project, its construction process can be accelerated so that it will become operational within the next two years.
An independent gas condensate refinery in Siraf, Bushehr Province, the Southern Adish Refinery has access to the South Pars gas condensate export pipeline and other infrastructures such as jetty, power grid and Iranian Natural Gas Trunkline.
Located on 32 hectares, including a 12-hectare processing area, the processing units will be supplied with technologies and knowhow by Axens (French Licensor) and Haldor Topsoe (Danish Licensor).
The construction of Persian Gulf Mehr Refinery is underway in Hormozgan Province to meet the rising demand for gasoline.
Located next to the Persian Gulf Star Refinery (the largest refinery in Iran), the project has registered 55% progress and is expected to be completed by 2025.
With the launch of the facility, whose feed will be supplied from the South Pars Gas Field, 13 million liters of gasoline, 3 million liters of diesel and 1 million liters of kerosene will be added to the daily production capacity of the country.
The refinery, which has been under construction by Iranian engineers for about three years, is estimated to cost over $660 million.
The facility has been designed by local experts and engineers, and domestic manufacturing companies will provide all the required equipment.
The refinery is located 18 km northwest of Bandar Abbas and geographically suitable, as it has good access to Shahid Rajaee Port for export.
Petro-Refinery Projects
Falahatian said that in addition to the Adish and Mehr projects, two 300,000-bpd projects have also been planned, namely Morvarid Makran Petro-Refinery in Jask region and Shahid Soleimani Petro-Refinery in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province.
To finance these two plans, a consortium of the country's large holdings and banks has been formed.
The construction of Shahid Soleimani Petro-Refinery will start soon with an investment of $10 billion. The facility will receive heavy and extra-heavy crude oil as feedstock.
Refined products like gasoline will constitute 70% of its production and 30% will constitute petrochemicals, including various types of xylenes, polymers, butadiene and propylene. However, the refinery will not produce mazut.
Bandar Abbas has been chosen for having the necessary infrastructure. Two refineries are already operating there and there is no need to spend more money on infrastructure.
The petro-refinery is estimated to be completed in five years with a refining capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.
Petro-refineries integrate refining and petrochemicals to produce both fuels and raw materials for petrochemical companies. Such plants have boosted the profitability and development of petro-refineries in developed countries.
