On Saturday , Iraq launched production operations at a new oil refinery in Karbala , as announced by the Ministry of Oil and the Presidency of the Government, in a project that opened months ago and would significantly reduce Iraq's oil-rich imports of fuel.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani inaugurated the Karbala refinery located in the center of the country, which was implemented by the Korean company "Hyundai", according to a statement issued by his office.

And Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani announced the "commercial production phase" of the facility, located in central Iraq. The refining capacity of this refinery is 140,000 barrels per day, according to the minister, who said that it is "the first in Iraq with modern technologies."

He added in a speech from the site that the Karbala Oil Refinery, according to a statement issued by the ministry, "contributes to filling a large part of the local need for white products, and reduces a large proportion of the imported ones."

According to the minister, the refinery produces 9 million liters of fuel per day, or more than half of the 15 million liters per day that Iraq imports.

Among the products is gasoline "with a purity of up to 95 octane", as well as other petroleum derivatives. The refinery is expected to produce "4 million liters" of fuel oil, "and 3 million liters of white oil," in addition to "1,000 tons per day of asphalt," according to the minister, and "the production of liquid gas is 750 tons per day, and solid sulfur is 360 tons per day." As for heavy fuel, it amounts to 8 million liters per day.

This is the first refinery with this production capacity to be built in Iraq since the eighties, as a source in the Oil Ministry, who did not want to be identified, told AFP in September.

Iraq is the second largest oil exporter in OPEC, as it exports about 3.3 million barrels per day, while oil revenues constitute 90% of the country's revenues, which contain huge reserves of black gold.

Likewise, the refinery generates 200 megawatts of electricity, "of which the national grid supplies 60 megawatts," according to the minister.

Iraq suffers from a deterioration in its infrastructure due to decades of war, conflicts, mismanagement, chronic corruption, the slow pace of reconstruction and the implementation of necessary reforms, and despite its vast oil wealth, it is still waiting for the implementation of many major infrastructure projects.

Currently, Iraq, which has three refineries in service, produces half of its daily fuel needs of 30 million liters, while importing the other half.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani confirmed on Saturday, according to a statement carried by the official news agency, that his government has placed "at the highest priority the work to raise the production capacity of existing refineries... leading to dispensing with imports and shifting to the export stage to achieve the highest added value of the exported barrel."

In February 2023, Iraq exported 92,255,610 barrels of oil, equivalent to about seven billion dollars, according to preliminary figures from the Ministry of Oil.