Q&A: Hossam Hussein Walli, director general of the South Refineries Company

BASRA - In a period of coronavirus restrictions and budget constraints, southern Iraq's refining sector has been in something of a holding pattern, with major expansion plans appearing to hinge on negotiations with foreign investors.

The Shuaiba refinery in Basra, the country's largest, is adding a fourth refining unit that will raise capacity from 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 280,000 bpd, but that project remains "85 percent complete," according to Hossam Hussein Walli, the director general of the state-run South Refineries Company (SRC) — virtually unchanged from March 2020, when work stopped due to the pandemic.