Iraq's oil ministry has inked a preliminary pact with an Italian group for a refinery to produce 200,000 barrels per day of gasoline and diesel fuel for the domestic market, an official said. "This is a six-month contract with the Karbala Refinery Corporation (KRC) during which the consortium must complete procedures ahead of starting the project," Ahmed Shamaa, Deputy Oil Minister in charge of refineries, said in a statement late Tuesday.
"The refinery will cover six square kilometres (2.3 square miles), will cost $6.5 million and be the most technologically advanced in Iraq," Dean Michael, the executive director of KRC, said in an email to AFP. The Italian company Saipem will provide the technical support for the refinery, the first to be built since the late 1980s.