Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan and Iraq exchanged letters for the provision of loans of up to 120 billion yen in Baghdad on Wednesday to help with Iraq’s oil refinement.

MASAMOTO Kenichi, the acting ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Iraq, and Iraq Finance Minister Taif Sami Mohammed Al-Shakarchi exchanged the paperwork for the loans that fall under the “Basra Refinery Improvement Plan (Phase 4).”

The plan involves lending the Iraqi government money to build a new refining plant, including a fluid catalytic cracking device that uses residual oil to produce petroleum products, at the Basra refinery in southern Iraq.

Iraq’s oil sector is the country’s largest core industry and almost the only source of foreign currency, accounting for about 90 percent of state revenues, but the oil sector is in urgent need of reconstruction.

The plan is expected to boost productivity of high-quality oil products at Iraq’s Basra refinery and help boost Iraq’s economy.

By helping to produce high-quality petroleum products that meet international environmental standards, Japan is expected to contribute to Iraq’s economic and social reconstruction by reducing environmental impact and transferring related technologies.