The rehabilitation of Iraq’s Baiji oil refinery will boost the OPEC member’s refining output to nearly 1.26 million barrels per day (mbpd), the official Iraqi daily Alsabah said on Tuesday.

The paper, quoting Oil Ministry officials and experts, said Baiji Refinery would produce nearly 150,000 bpd when it is back on track in the first quarter of 2024.

According to the report, Iraq’s current refining production capacity is around 1.116 million bpd although actual output is nearly 950,000 bpd.

It quoted Oil Ministry adviser Abdul Baqi Khalaf as saying the full commissioning of the Refinery would allow Iraq to slash petrol and diesel imports, estimated at nearly $3.5 billion a year.

Read more: Iraq's North Refinery likely to start trial operations in Q1 2024

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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