INOC Karbala Oil Refinery — Iraq

INOC Karbala Oil Refinery is a refinery in Iraq. Its listed capacity is 140,000 BBL per day. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery. It is operated by Iraq National Oil Co. By capacity it ranks #4 among 14 oil refineries in Iraq. It emits about 604,525 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 4.1% of the CO₂e from the 37 facilities in Iraq that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 50% below the national median for this sector.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-1753880.

In context: how this facility compares

At 140,000 BBL per day, INOC Karbala Oil Refinery is well above the median refinery in Iraq (40,000 BBL per day). Subsector: oil-and-gas-refining. As refinery, it requires high process heat (typically 200–600°C) for its core industrial operations, supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery.

Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.

What 604,525 t CO₂e a year looks like

This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:

Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.

Capacity vs largest oil refineries in Iraq

Listed capacity (BBL per day), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).

Operator

Operated by Iraq National Oil Co. All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

INOC Karbala Oil Refinery sits in a hot desert climate zone (Köppen BWh), at 32.4°N in the northern hemisphere.

Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).

Site climate & environmental severity

This site sits in a benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with dust abrasion the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1267 W/m² to ambient — roughly 0.97× the loss at a 20 °C reference. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby sites

The #4 largest of 14 oil refineries in Iraq by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• Saddat Al-Hindiyah Cement Plant · Cement Plant · 124,766 t CO₂
• Southern Cement Maz'al an Nasir Plant 1 · Cement Plant · 598,666 t CO₂
• Southern Cement Maz'al an Nasir Plant 2 · Cement Plant · 132,804 t CO₂
• Najaf Cement Plant · Cement Plant
• Southern Cement Karbala Plant 2 · Cement Plant · 622,063 t CO₂
• INOC Diwaniya Refinery · Refinery · 47,189 t CO₂

Location

Coordinates 32.35791, 44.09015. View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions