TEHRAN – Major Iranian banks have signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) with domestic companies to provide $17.8 billion for the construction of a large-scale refinery and a petro-refinery one, IRNA reportedAs reported, the MOUs for the funding of Morvarid Makran Refinery and Shahid Ghasem Soleimani Petro-refinery, each with a total processing capacity of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), were signed by the representatives of the mentioned entities on Monday, in a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raisi and Oil Minister Javad Oji.During the ceremony, Bank Meli Iran, Tejarat Bank, and Refah Bank signed an MOU with National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), Ahdaf Investment Group, and Tdbir Energy Development Group for investing $11.1 billion in Shahid Ghasem Soleimani Petro-refinery.Also, Morvarid Makran Refinery is going to be constructed with a total investment of $6.7 billion based on an MOU signed among Bank Mellat, Parsian Bank, and Mofid Economic Group.Shahid Ghasem Soleimani Petro-refinery is going to be established in Jask Island while Morvarid Makran Refinery will be constructed in Bandar-Abbas, both in southern Iran.Nearly 65 percent of the products produced in Shahid Soleimani Petro-refinery will be fuels and 35 percent would be chemical products.The projects are scheduled to be completed within five years.Creating added value, preventing the sales of raw materials, preventing the import of gasoline, increasing the country’s refining capacity and production of petroleum products, creating jobs and supporting domestic knowledge-based companies, and guiding liquidity towards productive investment, are among the major goals of the said projects.Due to the country's benefit from oil and gas resources, the development of petro-refineries is much easier and relatively cheaper in Iran than other countries in the world, and the country can play a role in regulating the price of petrochemical products in the world due to its proximity to energy sources and its capacity for the development of petro-refineries.EF/MA