As recent sanctions relief allows Tehran to resume oil delivery to Europe, Iran reveals plans to build a $1.8b refinery in Spain with intended capacity to produce 120,000b/d of oil, Press TV informed. National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) and Spain’s Magtel have agreed to team up for the construction of a refinery in the southern port city of Algeciras. The companies also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to assign feasibility studies on the project to an international auditing firm, according to Trade Arabia. This is following upon a recent Iranian delegation visit to Spain, during which the countries debated future bilateral cooperation.

In addition, Iran has also received proposals for buying or building overseas refineries in the Asian, European, African, and American countries. Investing in overseas refineries is one of the most common ways used by oil producing countries to boost crude exports, noted NIORDC’s CEO, Abbas Kazemi. None of the anticipated deals has been finalized yet.

Currently, some Arabian Gulf states, world’s major oil exporters, own a remarkable number of oil refineries globally, which has greatly increased their clout in global energy markets. The lifting of sanctions on Iran following the implementation of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in January, enables Iran to resume crude oil exports to Europe, halted since 2012.