The first section of the second phase of the development plan of Abadan oil refinery in Southwestern province of Khuzestan near the coast of the Persian Gulf was launched at the presence of Iran's resident on the 72nd anniversary of the nationalization of oil industry in 1951.

The development project of Abadan refinery is one of the largest projects of its kind in West Asia region. 

President Rayeesi opened the $1.2 billion giant project in a visit to the refinery in the provincial capital city of Abadan on Monday morning local time. The first section of the second phase will raise production capacity at the site by thousands of barrels of crude oil per day.

Commemorating the day of the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry, the president said, “The day of the nationalization is a historical day when foreigners were cut off from the country's oil resources, and the oil industry in Iran was nationalized with the expulsion of the British forces.”

Referring to a claim by one of the “British advisers” about Iran's inability to manage the refineries after the nationalization of the oil industry in 1951, he stated, “One of these British forces said that we will leave Iran, but the Iranians will not be able to refine and extract oil. But the Iranians proved that they can do this.”

“The 50-year-old idea of the British and Americans is that the ability and knowledge only belong to them, which is why they treat other nations with contempt, and they don't want to believe that others know and can,” Rayeesi continued.

The Iranian president called Abadan refinery a valuable manifestation of "we want, we know and we can".

Oil Minister Javad Owji has also stated that the launching of the project marks Iran’s “self-sufficiency” in construction of both gas and oil refineries.

Promoting the quality of the products in order to meet the Euro 5 emission standard, lowering the production level of Mazut heavy fuel oil from the existing 45 to 26 percent, elevating the production level of liquefied natural gas (LNG), diesel fuel and gasoline by 53, 23 and 6 percent respectively, and generation of 7,000 job vacancies have been described as the primary objectives of the second phase of the development plan.

A hydrogen production unit (HPU), hydrocracker unit (HCU), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production unit, crude oil distillation unit (CDU), vacuum distillation unit (VDU), utility facilities and other installations have been constructed as part of the project.

As the first oil refinery in the Middle East region, Abadan oil refinery is as old as 110 years and is recognized as an important refining hub of Iran.

The renovation of the refinery has taken place in two stages: the first of which was put into operation in 2005 with the construction of a refining complex with a production capacity of 150,000 barrels of oil per day.

This is while the second phase of the major project was launched in July 2017, and a new refining complex with the capacity of 210,000 bpd is planned to be built at last.