Nationwide refining capacity surges as Baiji ramps up

Iraq's domestic crude oil demand is increasing steadily as the country's largest refinery, once decimated in the war against the Islamic State militant group, has staged a major comeback.

Nationwide refining capacity now stands at more than 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), according to an Iraq Oil Report analysis based on data gathered from Oil Ministry publications and documents, industry officials, and more than half a dozen Iraqi officials working at the regional state-run companies overseeing the country's refineries — a jump of more than 250,000 bpd since 2024 and 500,000 bpd since 2022. Actual refinery runs have also risen at a similar pace.