Today, Tuesday, the Ministry of Planning witnessed the signing ceremony of the minutes of discussions of the third loan for the Basra refinery development project with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) with a value of 300 million dollars. The signing ceremony was attended by the Technical Undersecretary of the Ministry of Planning, Dr. Maher Hammad Johan, and the advisor to the Minister of Finance for Public Debt and Loans Affairs, Dr. Salah Al-Hadithi. and representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The minutes were signed on behalf of the Iraqi side by the directors of the sectors planning and international cooperation departments in the Ministry of Planning and the director of the Public Debt Department in the Ministry of Finance, as well as the director of the General South Refineries Company and the director of the Basra Refinery Phase III development project, while it was signed on the Japanese side by the representative of the Japanese Agency (JICA) for the eastern region. The Middle East and Europe, Mr. Ono, as well as the representative of the Regional Office for the Middle East and Europe of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Ms. Nakura.
The Director of the Public Sectors Planning Department in the Ministry of Planning, Engineer Basem Dari Mahmoud, stressed the importance of the Basra Refinery development project, as it is a modern technology used for the first time in the manufacturing sector, which will lead to an increase in the economic value of black oil by converting it into oil derivatives with a higher value. He added, "The signing of the minutes of discussions for the third loan agreement with the Japanese agency JICA to finance the project has proceeded. For his part, the Director of the General International Cooperation Department in the Ministry of Planning, Dr. Saher Abdul-Kadhim Mahdi, said: Today, the minutes of the discussions of the third loan for the Basra refinery development project were signed with the Japanese Cooperation Agency." International International (JICA) added, “The purpose of signing the loan is to develop the Basra refinery and contribute to improving the quality of oil derivatives, as well as improving the Iraqi oil production capacity, meeting the local need for petroleum products, bridging the gap and reducing the demand for petroleum products, which are being imported from abroad through Strengthening the productivity of a number of units in the Basra refinery through the introduction of a cracking unit in the auxiliary plant and the addition of two hydrogenation units (to treat light gas oil), which will contribute an effective and prominent role in the reconstruction process and support the national economy.
For his part, Director of the Public Debt Department in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Khaled Salah, said: Because of the importance of the Basra refinery development project, we signed today the third draft loan agreement with a value of $300 million to continue the project and we are working to accomplish as much as possible before the end of this year in order to be added next year to the law The budget is within the fourth phase of this project. Stressing that the project is of strategic importance through the liquidation process and is very important to the Ministry of Oil, which is one of its priorities.
To that, the Director of the General South Refineries Company, Hossam Hussein, said: Today, we signed at the Ministry of Planning the minutes of the third loan for the Basra Refinery development project, with a value of 300 million dollars, which will enhance the financial position of the project, which began work on the Shaybah site since the fifteenth of February of this year. He added, "This project is of great importance for depleting fuel oil, which is an excess material produced by refineries and turns into gasoline, kerosene and fuel for power stations."