(8 Oct 2006) 1. Exterior of the new oil refinery 2. Motorcade of Iraqi Minister of Oil Hussein al-Shahristani arriving at the refinery compound 3. Various of Iraqi Oil Minister and other officials walking 4. Al-Shahristani opening refinery 5. Fans revolving marking start up of refinery 6. Various shots of components of oil refinery 7. Iraqi flag flying over new oil refinery 8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Riyadh, Refinery engineer: ''This oil refinery will produce 10- thousand barrels of crude oil per day and, God willing, it will be developed to produce 30-thousand barrels a day. It produces gasoline, oil and kerosene.'' 9. Wide pan of oil refinery STORYLINE: Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani on Saturday opened a new oil refinery in the southern city of Najaf on Saturday, designed to meet the needs of the city and surrounding area. The plant, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Baghdad, has an initial capacity of 10-thousand barrels per day it should eventually be developed to produce three times that amount. Officials say the new refinery will help reduce the fuel crisis in the country. Iraq's oil industry, already suffering during Saddam Hussein's regime from a lack of capital, has fallen even further downhill since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Iraq's oil infrastructure is frequently targeted by insurgents who blow up pipelines and target oil workers in attacks. The country has struggled to resume oil production to pre-war levels of about 2.5 million (m) to 3 million (m) barrels a day. Iraq's three main oil refineries - Doura, Beiji and Shuaiba - are working at roughly half capacity, processing a total of 350-thousand barrels a day, down from about 700,000 barrels a day before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to the oil ministry. The shortfall has forced Iraq to turn to imports of oil products such as gasoline and kerosene, including from its neighbour Iran. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/ef5184617f4e54ed2c6bc6ffcc7fd595

• published: 23 Jul 2015
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