Iran to refine KRG's crude oil

Iran is preparing to refine 100,000 barrels per day (b/d) of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) crude oil at the Tabriz Refinery, Abdol-Rasoul Mirzaei the manager director of Raham Refinery said.

Both Tabriz and Raham refineries are in Iran’s South Azerbaijan Province.

Last week Raham refinery’s first phase was inaugurated, aimed to produce 300,000 tons per year of bitumen. The second phase, worth $450 millon, is projected to refine 50,000 b/d of crude oil.

Mirzaei said that Raham refiney’s crude oil feedstock is similar to Tabriz refinery’s and KRG’s crude oil could be processed there in future as well.

Before, both Iran and KRG officials have announced the continuance of both oil transtit and swap.

“There are several options for selling KRG’s oil through Iran, but the only optimal way is swap operations,” Mohsen Ghamsari, director of the International Affairs Department at National Iranian Oil Company, told SHANA Sep. 5.

He said KRG has requested Iran to help it export oil, but the deal hasn't been reached yet and negotiations continue.

Currently, KRG exports its 500,000 b/d of oil through Turkey.

For several years, Iraq’s KRG and Iran have been in talks to construct a pipeline that would transport the northern Iraqi oil to Iran for swapping the region's crude in the Persian Gulf.

However, negotiations have lagged so far as the regional administration in northern Iraq instead focused on developing an oil export route through Turkey.