2025-09-14T11:37:13+00:00
font
Enable Reading Mode
A-
A
A+
Shafaq News – Damascus
Syria’s General Petroleum Corporation announced on Sunday a
large-scale modernization project at the Baniyas refinery, set to begin next
year, assuring that local fuel supplies will remain unaffected during the work.
Speaking to Shafaq News, Mustafa Marati, Director of Public
Relations at Syria’s General Oil Administration, described the initiative as a
“major engineering achievement” to upgrade the refinery’s infrastructure after
decades of heavy use.
“The project includes replacing four main reactors (R1, R2,
R3, R4) in the upgrading unit while refurbishing the internal components of the
first and second reactors,” he explained, stressing that the overhaul will
maintain the supply of high-quality petroleum products for domestic demand and
reduce reliance on imports.
He added that the modernization will also replace furnace
shells in the upgrading unit, describing the project as “among the largest in
the refinery’s history.”
Earlier, Marati noted that Baghdad and Damascus are working
to revive the Kirkuk–Baniyas oil pipeline, a long-idle route linking Iraq’s
fields to the Mediterranean.
Constructed in 1952, the Kirkuk–Baniyas line is one of the
Middle East’s oldest oil export routes. Stretching 800 kilometers and capable
of pumping up to 300,000 barrels per day, it has been repeatedly shut down over
the decades due to political and security turmoil.
Read more: Kirkuk–Baniyas Pipeline: Iraq’s direct oil lifeline to the Mediterranean