TEHRAN – West Asia’s largest distillation unit has gone operational in Iran’s Abadan Refinery with a capacity of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd), the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company (NIOEC) announced on Tuesday.

Speaking at the project’s inauguration ceremony, Farhad Ahmadi put the project's investment at around €2.6 billion, saying: “Due to the pressure of sanctions, the project was divided into two sections and one billion euros was invested in the first section.”

According to the official, the implementation of this project started in September 2017 and during its implementation, it was faced with various challenges, including sanctions, lack of financial resources, the coronavirus pandemic, fine dust, and unprecedented heat, but fortunately, during the past year, with the efforts of local experts, it progressed more than 32 percent.

Referring to the official inauguration of the refinery’s capacity stabilization project in the near future, Ahmadi emphasized: "We hope that at the same time with the inauguration of this plan, the ground would also be broken for the start of the implementation of the second section of the distillation unit project.”

In the first section of this project, the capacity of the Abadan refinery will be fixed at 210,000 bpd, and with the implementation of the second section within three years, the quality of the produced items will also meet the European Euro 5 standard, the official said.

The Abadan Refinery is an oil refinery located in Abadan, southwestern Iran, near the coast of the Persian Gulf.

EF/MA