Press Releases

Signing ceremony

On December 28, 2022, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a loan agreement with the Government of the Republic of Iraq in Baghdad to provide a Japanese ODA loan of up to 120,000 million yen for the Basrah Refinery Upgrading Project (IV).

This project will improve Iraq’s capacity for producing oil products and the quality of such products by installing a new fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) complex in Basrah Refinery, one of the biggest oil refineries in the country. Although Iraq has high oil-producing potential, with its crude oil reserves ranked fourth in the world, its domestic demand for oil products, such as gasoline and diesel, depends heavily on imports from other oil producing countries. This is because many of the oil-refining facilities in Iraq are currently out of service or deteriorating and thus operate below capacity due to long-lasting conflicts.

By installing the first FCC complex in Iraq, this project will allow the country to produce oil products that meet international environmental standards, strengthening the oil sector—which dominates Iraq’s economy—and thereby contributing to the country’s economic and social reconstruction. Moreover, this project will also contribute to the achievement of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) Goals 7 (Affordable and clean energy) and 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure).

JICA has provided four ODA loans for the Basrah Refinery Upgrading Project, of which the first tranche was signed in October 2012 with the amount of 42,435 million yen, the second in June 2019 with 110,000 million yen, and the third in October 2021 with 32,700 million yen. This project is the fourth tranche of its kind.

Special Terms for Economic Partnership (STEP)* will apply to the Japanese ODA loan for this project, and Japan’s advanced technical know-how and engineering skills will be utilized at the FCC complex being constructed under the project.

* STEP refers to special assistance terms for promoting the visibility of Japanese aid through a transfer of outstanding Japanese technology and expertise to developing nations. The main contract is Japan tied and subcontracting is general untied. The main agreement partner must generally be a Japanese company, an overseas subsidiary of a Japanese company, or a joint venture between a Japanese company and the borrowing country where the Japanese company is the lead partner, although under certain conditions a joint venture between a Japanese company (which is the lead partner of the joint venture) and an affiliated company (as accounted under the equity method) of a Japanese company may be the main agreement partner.

Details for the project are provided below.

1. Terms and Amount of Loan

Project title	Amount (million yen)	Annual interest rate (%)		Repayment period (years)	Grace period (years)	Procurement
		Project	Consulting services
Basrah Refinery Upgrading Project(IV)	120,000	0.2	0.01	40	10	Japan Tied

2. Executing Agency
Ministry of Oil
Address: Ministry of Oil Building, Baghdad, The Republic of Iraq

3. Planned Implementation Schedule
(1) Completion of project: August 2025 – when the facilities are put into service
(2) Issuing letters of invitation for consulting services (including detailed design work): Already Hired
(3) Tender announcement of initial procurement package for international competitive bidding on project construction: Already Procured
Procurement package title: EPC Package

4. JICA Contact Information
For further information about the procurement schedule, please contact the party
listed below.
Contact Point for Iraq Team, Division II, Middle East & Europe Department, JICA Headquarters
Address: 5-25, Niban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
Phone: +81-3-5226-6660

• Ex-Ante Evaluation (PDF/166KB)