It is a well-known fact that Mongolia has substantial oil reserves, but up to the present, has no refining capacity, the result: the country exports all its crude oil and has to import imports its petroleum products. This will all change when the new refinery is opened; completion is planned for 2023. The oil refinery will meet all the nation’s demands for petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The official ground-breaking ceremony of the oil refinery was attended by Mongolian Prime Minister Khurelsukh and Indian Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh in June 2018.

The refinery, located in Altanshiree soum in the southern Dornogovi province, will be capable of processing 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil per year, said Mongol Refinery, the state-owned company responsible for the project, in a press release. That is about 30,000 barrels per day (bpd). Currently, construction of the oil refinery infrastructure is fully underway.  This phase, which is the responsibility of the Mongolian government, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. After that, an Indian company will construct the refinery itself. A road connecting the refinery and Sainshand, the administration center of Dornogovi province, has been constructed by over 200 soldiers from the  7780th military unit with more than 80 bulldozers, graders and other vehicles.