By NNN-IRNA
Damascus : Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called, in a state order to the country’s Oil Ministry, for rapid construction of a joint-venture refinery to be built by Syria, Iran, Venezuela and Malaysia.
The project was proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during his visit to Syria in August 2007. Its agreement document was later signed by these four countries.
The refinery is to be erected in a region some 150 kilometres north of Damascus.
The cost of the plant, designed to have a nominal capacity of 140,000 barrels per day (bpd), is estimated at USD 2.6 billion.
A total of 70,000 bpd of the refinery feedstock will be supplied by the Syrian Oil Ministry, 28,000 bpd by Iran and 42,000 by Venezuela.
The Syrian oil output is reportedly around 400,000 bpd which brings in around USD 3 billion per year.