TEHRAN – The Chinese refiner Sinopec has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company to invest $6.5 billion for building oil refineries in Iran.

It is predicted that the two sides will close the deal in the next two months, the Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday without stating further details on where and when the agreement was signed.
The report noted that technical experts from the two companies were studying the MOU and figuring out ways to implement it.
Feasibility, profitability and land acquisition studies regarding the construction of the new refineries have been conducted and tenders will be held on EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) basis in the near future, the report said.
Seven crude oil refineries with a total capacity of 1.56 million barrels per day at an estimated cost of $23 billion are planned to be built in Iran to boost the domestic refining capacity to 3.2 million bpd.
Sinopec had earlier agreed to import 150,000-160,000 bpd of Iranian crude this year, unchanged from 2008.
China, which is among six world powers seeking to resolve Iran's long-running nuclear row diplomatically, is the second-largest buyer of Iranian oil