The Baiji oil refinery is the largest oil
refinery in
Iraq and produces a third of the country's oil output.
The refinery is 130 miles north of
Baghdad, about halfway between Baghdad and
Mosul, near the city of
Baiji
The baiji (; IPA: ; ''Lipotes vexillifer'', ''Lipotes'' meaning "left behind" and ''vexillifer'' "flag bearer") is a possibly extinct species of freshwater dolphin native to the Yangtze river system in China. It is thought to be the first dolph ...
.
In 2008, 500 tanker trucks filled with fuel used to leave the refinery per day.
It was a target of intense fighting between the Islamic State and the Iraqi government in 2014 and 2015.
Capture by ISIS
The refinery was captured for the first time on 24 June 2014 after 10 days of seizure.
The refinery was taken back by Iraqi forces and
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most n ...
militias, known as
popular mobilization forces, fighting alongside them on 16 October 2015, after it had changed hands repeatedly. It had received so much damage that it would take years to have it operational.
References
{{coord missing, Iraq
Oil refineries in Iraq