Royal Dutch Shell and US petrochemicals giant Dow Chemical are in talks with the Iraqi government to rehabilitate and expand a chemical plant in southern Iraq at a cost of up to $2.1 billion, the Iraq industry minister said.
The talks on creating a joint venture or reaching a profit-sharing agreement could be concluded this year, Fawzi Hariri told Reuters in Dubai on Wednesday, on the sidelines of an Iraq reconstruction conference.
“We are looking to upgrade this, and evaluate what type of products and facilities we need for the local market and beyond,” Hariri said of the plant near the city of Basra.
Iraq, the world’s third-largest holder of oil reserves, produces most of its crude in the south of the country.
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