Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 8 /Trend A.Taghiyeva/
Iraqi government approved draft law on the investment in oil refining, Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said, the newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi said on Thursday.
The bill proposes to simplify the process of foreign investment in oil refining of the country. New refineries will be built and the old ones will be upgraded in the frame of the draft law.
Oil to the new refineries will be sold at a price not less than $4 and no more than $8 a barrel.
Iraq has three refineries located in the provinces of Bija, Basra and Al-Douri, the total capacity of 567,000 barrels per day. However, the country aims to increase oil refining capacity to 750,000 barrels per day next year. To do this, Iraq intends to build three refineries in the provinces of Karbala, Kirkuk and Missan, Iraqi State Oil Company (Somooil) reported previously.
According to BP, Iraq's proven oil reserves amounted to 143.1 billion barrels as of late 2011.
The country ranks third in OPEC after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The major oil fields of Iraq are Rumaila, Zubair, Nahr Umr, Majnoon and West Qurna in the south of the country. Some 80 percent of the oil produced in Iraq is exported.
