MOSCOW (MRC) - Mongolia launched construction of its first oil refinery, a long-awaited project that is funded by India and designed to end the country's dependence on Russian fuel, as per Reuters.
Friday's ground-breaking ceremony was attended by Mongolian Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa and Indian Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh.
The refinery, in southern Dornogovi province, will be capable of processing 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil per year, said Mongol Refinery, the state-owned company building the project, in a press release. That is about 30,000 Mbpd.
The refinery will be small by international standards, with most Chinese facilities each processing hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude per day, and India's Reliance Industries running one refinery at a record 1.2 MMbpd.
Still, Mongolia's new refinery, planned for completion in late 2022, will meet all of the nation's demand for gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
"By establishing this strategically important oil refinery, the national economy will become independent from energy imports, and fuel and commodity prices will be stabilized," said Mongol Refinery in its statement. The project is expected to boost Mongolia's gross domestic product by 10 percent, it said.
Mongolia imported almost 1.5 million tonnes of oil products last year, virtually all from Russia. They amounted to 18 percent of all Mongolia's imports, according to official data.
Mongolia, a large landlocked country wedged between giants China and Russia, has a population of just 3 million. Almost half its people live as nomadic stock herders, and the country's oil demand is growing only very slowly.
"From a national security perspective, we do need to diversify our sources of oil products from the current single source, Russia," said Munkhdul Badral Bontoi, chief executive of Mongolia-based market intelligence group Cover Mongolia.
The cost of the refinery is estimated at $1.35 billion, and it will include a pipeline and its own power plant.
The refinery will process Mongolia's own crude oil, which is now sold to China.
Mongolia produced 7.6 million barrels of oil last year, about 21 Mbpd, amounting to 6 percent of its total export earnings. The country's petroleum industry regulator is expecting its crude oil output to rise over the years prior to the refinery's start-up.
Mongolia's big southern neighbor China produces around 3.8 MMbpd of crude, and imports more than 9 MMbpd, according to official government data.
MRC