Iran Wants to Build Oil Refinery on Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast

Energy | September 20, 2011, Tuesday // 13:38|  views

Iran is interested in building an oil refinery in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna, Iranian Ambassador to Bulgaria Golamreza Bageri Mogadam has announced.

His Excellency suggested the idea to the District Governor of Bulgaria's Varna Dancho Simeonov on Tuesday.

"We are ready to complete this project the way Bulgaria likes," he said, meaning that Iran could finance in full the construction of a refinery in Varna, or it could form a joint venture with Bulgaria, or work as a contractor.

Ambassador Mogadam stated that his country has lots of experience in the oil refining industry. Iran has 10 functioning oil refineries, and several others are under construction. In his words, the Persian Gulf country is ranked second globally by proven oil reserves.

Iran is the second largest oil exporter within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Bulgaria at present has only one operational oil refinery – Lukoil Neftochim – located in the other large Bulgarian Black Sea port, Burgas. The refinery owned by the Russian energy giant Lukoil is the largest in the Balkans, with a total capacity of 9.5 million tonnes annually.

Lukoil Neftochim Burgas is facing competion from the Petromidia refinery in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta. Romania's Rompetrol, which is owned by the state-owned oil company of Kazakhstan, KazMunayGas, recently moved to boost the capacity of the refinery, bringing it to 5 million tonnes annually as of the start of 2011, from the current 3.8 million tonnes.

Iran's offer to build a refinery in Bulgaria comes after earlier on Tuesday, Varna District Governor Simeonov and his counterpart from the West Azerbaijan Province in Iran, Vahid Dzhelalzade, signed a cooperation agreement between the respective regional authorities that they represent.

West Azerbaijan's administration has made it clear it is ready to cooperate with Bulgaria's Varna in the fields of tourism, transit transport, and various economic activities. A direct bus line from Varna to Urmia, the capital of West Azerbaijan, has been discussed as a future possibility.

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Tags: Iran, Dancho Simeonov, Varna District, Varna District Governor, Golamreza Bageri Mogadam, Constanta, oil company, KazMunayGaz, Kazmunaigaz, Rompetrol, gas stations, Petromidia, oil refinery, OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

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