São Paulo – On April 17 and 18 at London’s Lancaster Hotel, the Iraqi government will promote the Iraq Refinery 2012 conference, geared at attracting investment into the refining industry. Despite boasting the world’s third largest oil reserves, the country’s refineries do not produce enough derivatives to cater to the market, which depends on imports.
According to the event organizers, the Iraqi deputy prime minister for Energy Affairs, Hussein Al-Shahrestani, will announce major investment opportunities in the field. There are eight refineries operating in the country and five under construction. The government wants to double the refining capacity to 1.5 million barrels by 2017.
The conference will place potential international investors in touch with Iraqi oil and gas industry players. The country currently produces roughly 3 million barrels of oil per day. For the sake of comparison, Brazil’s output revolves around 2 million barrels per day.
The event follows similar ones turned to different segments, such as Iraq Mining, held last year, and a conference on transport held this year in Baghdad.
Additional information
www.iraqrefinery.com
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
