Tehran, Beijing begin $3bn oil cooperation

Iranian deputy oil minister said Iran and China will jointly launch a three-billion-dollar oil project today to develop and optimize Abadan Refinery. Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) Abbas Kazemi, while expounding on the first major agreement between Iran and China in the post-JCPOA era, said “following months of negotiations between NIORDC and Sinopec Company, implementation of the first phase of development, optimization and improvement of production processes got on way in Abadan Refinery as the largest Iranian oil refinery complex,” Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

The official noted that the first phase of the refinery project requires 1.3 million dollars of monetary and financial resources asserting “the second developmental phase will be also carried out in partnership with China’s Sinopec.” Emphasizing that the two phases of development project in Abadan Refinery would demand an aggregate total of three billion dollars of investment, he underlined that Iran enjoys 15 per cent of the share in the project while the rest of the share will be supplied by Chinese financers.

NIORDC managing director emphasized that China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (commonly known as Sinosure) will undertake the financing of the developmental project in Abadan Refinery; “the operation primarily aims to reduce production capacity of fuel oil and boost output of high value-added products like gasoline and gas oil.”

“Not only will the fuel oil production capacity at Abadan Refinery decrease from the current 42% to lesser than 20% but also the manufacturing standard of all products will be promoted to Euro IV,” he concluded.