Iraq’s Largest Refinery Refinery Back To Full Capacity After 9 Yrs Of Rebuilding

On February 23 Prime Minister Mohammed Sudani announced that the Baiji Refinery in Salahaddin province was completely re-opened. The facility was the site of fierce fighting during the war against the Islamic State. Afterwards it was looted by Hashd forces. It took 9 years after its liberation to be fully operational again highlighting the shortcomings with the Iraqi government.

 

In the summer of 2014 the Islamic State seized most of Baiji Refinery as it swept across the northern provinces after taking Mosul. It took over a year of intense fighting to free it.

 

Immediately afterwards pro-Iran Hashd units looted the facility. Most of the heavy equipment was sold to buyers in Kurdistan and Iran.

 

Despite that, in January 2016 the Oil Ministry sent a team to assess the refinery and announced that it would be back at work in a few months. That was contradicted by an Oil Ministry official that told Iraq Oil Report that $12 billion was necessary to fix everything.

 

Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t until April 2018 that part of Baiji was re-opened. That was because Baghdad did not prioritize rebuilding after the war with the Islamic State was over. It had no plans and failed to garner much international aid for the effort.

 

Baiji is Iraq’s largest refinery for a country known for shortages in oil derivatives. Yet it took another 6 years for the entire refinery to be working again.

 

SOURCES

 

Agence France Presse, “Reconstruction starts at Iraq’s biggest oil refinery,” 12/14/17

 

Bulos, Nabih, “Iraqi forces took Baiji from Islamic State, but the former boom town may be doomed,” Los Angeles Times, 6/11/16

 

Iraq News Network, “Deputy: Al-Ubeib militias, Hezbollah Brigades, and Martyrs stole equipment from Baiji refinery,” 1/6/19

 

Iraq Oil Report, “Baiji refinery begins its comeback,” 9/10/18

 

Al Masalah, “Baiji refinery reopens after 4-year hiatus,” 4/13/18

 

Al-Najaf, Kamaran, Lando, Ben, Van Heuvelen, Ben, “Key energy facilities under ISIS control,” Iraq Oil Report, 6/13/14

 

Parker, Ned and Landay, Jonathan, “Exclusive: U.S. falters in campaign to revive Iraqi army, officials say,” Reuters, 6/3/16

 

Rasul, Azhi, “Iraq reopens largest oil refinery after decade-long shutdown,” Rudaw, 2/23/24

 

Xinhua, “Iraq restores part of largest oil refinery after 4-year hiatus,” 8/27/18

 

Zaki, Mahmoud, Osgood, Patrick, Van Heuvelen, Ben, Lando, Ben, “Once fixable, Baiji refinery plundered beyond repair,” Iraq Oil Report, 1/28/16