ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—In a bid to increase domestic refining capacity, the Kurdish Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) calls on interested companies in the oil refining industry to submit proposals to build three refineries in the Kurdish Region.

“In line with this objective, the KRG is issuing a call for expression of interest to invite interested companies to submit expression of interest, to Build, Own and Operate up to three refineries in the Kurdistan Region,” the MNR said in a statement Tuesday.

The objective of this plan, as explained on the MNR website, is to add 50,000 -100,000 barrel per day petroleum refinery in order to “increase the domestic capacity of local refineries in the Kurdistan Region to ensure self-sufficiency in producing petroleum products.”

The region faces shortage of fuel and other refined products for local consumption after the disruption of Iraq’s largest oil refinery in Baiji due to months of continued fighting between Iraqi forces and the Islamic State (ISIS).

According to the MNR, successful bidders will be able to “build, own and operate such refineries in the Kurdistan Region for next twenty years plus,” with the possibility of extension.

The government in Erbil started its independent oil sales via the Turkish pot of Ceyhan in June after months of legal and budgetary disputes with Baghdad and the falling apart of an earlier agreement.

Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz stated in August that the KRG has exported 66 million barrels of oil since last year and is currently exporting an average of 600,000 bpd.

Rudaw