According to senior local official, Iraq will invite international companies to invest more than USD 2.5 billion in building a 150,000 barrel per day oil refinery in the southern province of Maysan.

Mr Ali Warid chairman of the local government's Maysan Investment Office said that “We will ask international companies specialized in constructing and running refineries to build a major refinery near the Bazargan oil field.”

Mr Warid said that American firm Shaw Stone & Webster, a subsidiary of Shaw Group won a USD 150 million contract last year to provide diagrams for the refinery and that it was expected to finish them soon.

In 2007, Iraqi parliament approved a law that opens the way for foreign firms to build and operate domestic refineries.

Iraq said that it plans to boost refining capacity by 840,000 barrels per day as part of a USD 50 billion plan to overhaul the energy industry and boost production.

(Sourced from Reuters)