Iraq reopens North Refinery in Baiji closed for a decade

Iraq on Friday reopened its North Refinery in Baiji that was shut for a decade during the violence and chaos that followed the US-led invasion in 2003 which made it nearly impossible to run one of the country’s most vital energy complexes.

The fall of Saddam Hussein was meant to bring stability and prosperity to major OPEC oil producer Iraq after years of economic mismanagement and military misadventures brought the country to its knees.

Instead Iraqis suffered from an insurgency, a sectarian civil war and then the advent of al-Qaeda and later ISIS which killed tens of thousands of people.

The Baiji refinery complex was a high profile victim of the chaos, a focal point for fighting between security forces and militants for months on end.

Al-Qaeda had enough control over the Baiji area that it was able to intimidate refinery workers and hijack its refined products. It sold the products to neighboring countries and used the profits to finance its insurgency.

The refinery was shut in 2014 when ISIS fighters seized it after taking over one third of the country’s territory. ISIS stole oil and petroleum products from areas it controlled.

It has a refining capacity of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) after reopening, which would bring the total capacity of the Baiji refining complex to 290,000 bpd.

Iraq aims to reach self-sufficiency in oil derivatives by mid-next year, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in the reopening ceremony.