Abadan Refinery

{{Short description|Oil refinery in Abadan, Iran}}

{{Infobox oil refinery

| name = Abadan Refinery

| image = Abadan Catalitic facilities.jpg

| image alt =

| caption = Abadan Refinery, 1970

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| country = Iran

| province =

| city = Abadan

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| founded = {{Start date|1912}}

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| capacity =

| capacity bbl/d = 429000

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The Abadan refinery ({{langx|fa|پالایشگاه آبادان}} Pālāyeshgāh-e Ābādān) is an oil refinery in Abadan, Iran near the coast of the Persian Gulf.

History

Built by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later BP) on the basis of a lease obtained in 1909,{{cite encyclopedia |year=1929 |title=Abadan |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |edition=14|volume=1|page=7 |language=en}} it was completed in 1912 as a pipeline terminus, and was one of the world's largest oil refineries. In 1927, oil exports from Abadan totalled nearly 4.5 million tons.

File:Abadanraffinerie.jpg

Its nationalisation in 1951 prompted the Abadan Crisis and ultimately the toppling of the democratically elected{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/iran00burk_0 |title=Iran |last=Kamin |first=Mohammadi |last2=Elliott |first2=Mark|date=2004-01-01|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=1740594258|oclc=56651387|url-access=registration}} prime minister Mossaddegh.{{cite web | title=Book review: All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, by Stephen Kinzer|first=David S.|last= Robarge|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency| date=14 April 2007 | url=https://www.cia.gov/static/all-the-shahs-men.pdf| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613114131/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no2/article10.html | archive-date=13 June 2007 | url-status=live}}

The refinery was largely destroyed in September 1980 by Iraq during the initial stages of the Iraqi invasion of Iran's Khuzestan province, triggering the Iran–Iraq War.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} It had a capacity of 635,000 b/d in 1980 and formed a refinery complex with important petrochemical plants. Its capacity started to bounce back after the war ended in 1988, and was listed in 2013 as {{convert|429000|oilbbl/d}} of crude oil.{{cite web | publisher=Abadan Oil Refining company |title=Home page| date=2013| url=http://www.abadan-ref.ir/en | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809094806/http://www.abadan-ref.ir/en | archive-date=9 August 2014 | url-status=dead}} {{Failed verification|date=August 2023}}

In December 2017, Sinopec signed a US$1 billion deal to expand the Abadan refinery.{{cite news|title=Sinopec Signs $1b Abadan Refinery Expansion Deal |url=https://financialtribune.com/articles/energy/78896/sinopec-signs-1b-abadan-refinery-expansion-deal |newspaper=Financial Tribune |date=29 December 2017|accessdate=7 January 2018}} Work on the second phase of the project was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.{{Cite news|title=Abadan Refinery upgrading project halted temporarily due to coronavirus|date=13 March 2020 |newspaper=Tehran Times |url=https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/446056/Abadan-Refinery-upgrading-project-halted-temporarily-due-to-coronavirus}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • J. W. Williamson, In a Persian Oil Field: A Study in Scientific and Industrial Development (E. Benn, 1927; 2nd edition 1930)