Dubai, UAE– Iraq has imported oil derivatives – gasoline, kerosene and gas oil – worth more than $5 billion in 2022, the state-run Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) said Tuesday.
The company’s data showed that Iraq’s imports of kerosene (white oil) amounted to 167,433 metric tons valued at $159.27, according to a QNA report. A total of 3.69 million tons of gasoline valued at $3.87 billion and 1.19 million tons of gas oil valued at $266.63 were also imported.
The total imported quantities of oil derivatives for 2022 increased by 60.43 percent compared to 2021.
Iraq is the second largest producer of crude oil in the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC), with a total production of 4.58 million barrels per day and aspires to reach production of 6 million barrels by 2025, but at the same time it imports oil derivatives from countries of the world due to the small number of refineries in the country.
The new refinery in Karbala has a production of 140,000 barrels per day, while other large refineries date back to 1980s. The Baiji refinery with a capacity of 300,140 barrels per day was nearly completely destroyed during the war with ISIS.
