Iran to rebuild 2nd extraterritorial refinery in Syria’s Homs

The coordination manager of the repair and maintenance department of Iran’s extraterritorial refineries said the second extraterritorial refinery of the country will be rebuilt in Syria’s Homs province.

The 120,000-barrel refinery unit in Syria’s Homs province will be reconstructed by Iran with a contract similar to that of Venezuela’s El Palito Refinery, Ali Shahverdi maintained, according to Mehr News Agency.

He said the administration of President Ebrahim Raeisi has taken the issue of shareholding in extraterritorial refineries into serious consideration to own refinery units overseas to export its oil to other countries.

These refinery units will be set up in like-minded countries whose policies are in line with the policies of Iran, he said, adding that the extraterritorial refineries, in addition to selling the crude oil, will contribute to the export of Iran’s technical and engineering services abroad.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to El Palito Refinery as Iran’s first extraterritorial refinery in Venezuela with the capacity of producing 1.3 million barrels of oil.

Shahverdi put the physical progress of the El Palito refinery project at about 87 per cent.

Nicaragua, Cuba, Central Asian states, and South Africa have also requested Iran to build refinery units in these countries, he added.

Back in October, a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) was inked between Iran, Venezuela, and Syria for building a new refinery in the Arab country as clear proof of Iran’s ability to cooperate with these countries in the oil sector despite the US sanctions.