Mongolia’s government has started construction of the country’s first refinery on 150 hectares in Altanshiree Soum in the southeastern province of Dornogovi.

    Rajnath Singh, India’s minister for home affairs, attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the refinery on June 22 in Altanshiree, according to posts from Singh’s official social media accounts.

    Supported by a $1-billion soft credit line to Mongolia from India announced in May 2015, the new facility will help the landlocked country to reduce its energy dependence on neighboring Russia.

    Alongside building the refinery, state-owned enterprises and organizations also will work on construction of an electric power transmission line as well as 20 km of railway and roadway to connect the manufacturing site to nearby Sainshand.

    The proposed 1.5 million-tonne/year refinery will produce 560,000 tpy of gasoline, 670,000 tpy of diesel, and 107,000 tpy of liquefied gas for domestic use, helping to reduce finished petroleum product imports from Russia.