Abu Dhabi okays Morocco refinery

PLANS APPROVED: IPIC's board has given the green light for a new refinery in Morocco, Wam said. (Getty Images)

The board of Abu-Dhabi government-owned energy investment firm International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) has approved a plan for a new refinery in Morocco, UAE state new agency Wam said on Wednesday.

IPIC invests in international oil-related projects for Abu Dhabi. IPIC is one of several state-owned investment vehicles Abu Dhabi is using to spend oil export windfalls on diversify assets.

Work is under way to set up a company to administer the project at the port of Jorf Lasfar in cooperation with Moroccan partners, Wam said. It gave no further details on the size of the plant or investment.

Morocco said last year it was planning to build a $3 billion refinery at Jorf Lasfar and was in talks with Spanish, UAE and Kuwait companies to build the plant.

IPIC's board also gave the nod to a plan to build a new $5 billion refinery with capacity of 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) in Pakistan. IPIC signed a deal with Pakistan to build that plant last November.

IPIC made profits of $1.2 billion in 2007, up 28% from 2006, and the highest since the company was set up in 1984, WAM said. (Reuters)