China Eximbank provides $1.105 billion loan for Phase 1 of Abadan Refinery Upgrade Project (Linked to Project ID#67618)

In 2016, Sinopec signed an EPC contract with National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company worth approximately $1.3 billion (RMB 8 billion) for Phase 1 of the Abadan Refinery Upgrade Project. China Eximbank reportedly agreed to provide a loan to finance 85% of the cost ($1.105 billion ) of the EPC contract. The loan was insured by China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure). The Abadan refinery (Persian: پالایشگاه آبادان‎) is an oil refinery located in the city of Abadan near the coast of the Persian Gulf. Phase 1 was completed, but its specific focus and its implementation start and end dates are unknown. China Eximbank also financed Phase 2 of the Abadan Refinery Upgrade Project (see Project ID#67618).

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 伊朗Abadan炼厂产品升级项目 or Abadan煉廠產品升級項目一期. 2. The China Eximbank loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020. 3. Sinopec reports that its ‘share’ of the EPC contact was worth approximately RMB 4.081 billion, which suggests that the EPC contract was issued to a consortium. 4. Given that China Eximbank agreed to provide a loan to finance 85% of the cost of the EPC contract, AidData assumes that the loan was issued in the form of a buyer's credit. This issue warrants further investigation.

Number of official sources

5

Number of total sources

18