The Cabinet endorsed an $81 million contract to two U.S. companies for
the upgrade of the Samawah refinery in the southern Iraqi province of
Muthanna. The contractors were identified as Colorado Industrial
Construction Services Co. and Veco Co., an affiliate of CH2M Hill.
Officials said the contract stipulated the installation of a refinery
unit at Samawah that would produce 1,200 cubic meters of gasoline per day.
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Samawah was
heavily damaged during the looting that followed the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq in 2003.
Iraq has sought to modernize its oil refinery capacity, eroded by poor
maintenance under United Nations sanctions imposed on the former Saddam
Hussein regime. The country has three major refineries that process about
350,000 barrels of oil per day.