Engineering firm JGC Corporation has secured a contract for the upgrade of a major refinery in the port city of Basrah, in Iraq. The engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract worth $3.7bn was awarded by South Refineries Company and is due for completion in 2025.

The contract’s scope includes the installation of a fluid catalytic cracking unit with a 34,500 barrels-per-day capacity; vacuum distillation unit (55,000 bpd and diesel desulfurisation unit 40,000 bpd), thereby increasing production to 19,000 bpd of gasoline and 36,000 bpd of diesel fuel.

JGC says it will conduct skills training for more than 1,000 Iraqis and hire approximately 7,000 skilled Iraqi workers. It is also expected that more than 2,000 operating personnel jobs will be created once the project is complete, which will contribute to solving the unemployment problem in Iraq, the statement said.

According to a statement, funding for the project will be procured through Japanese ODA loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It is said to be the largest-scale reconstruction assistance from Japan since the 2003 Iraq War.