Context:

• Mongolia launched construction of its first oil refinery, a long-awaited project that is funded by India and designed to end the country’s dependence on Russian fuel.

More about the refinery:

• The refinery, in southern Dornogovi province will be capable of processing 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil per year.
• The refinery will be small by international standards, with most Chinese facilities each processing hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude per day, and India’s Reliance Industries running one refinery at a record 1.2 million bpd.
• Still, Mongolia’s new refinery, planned for completion in late 2022, will meet all of the nation’s demand for gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
• By establishing this strategically important oil refinery, the national economy will become independent from energy imports, and fuel and commodity prices will be stabilised.
• The project is expected to boost Mongolia’s gross domestic product by 10 percent.
• Mongolia imported almost 1.5 million tonnes of oil products last year, virtually all from Russia. They amounted to 18 percent of all Mongolia’s imports, according to official data.
• Mongolia, a large landlocked country wedged between giants China and Russia, has a population of just 3 million. Almost half its people live as nomadic stock herders, and the country’s oil demand is growing only very slowly.

Facts for Prelims:

• Mongolia considers India a “third neighbor” as well as a “spiritual neighbor” (the late venerable Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, a Buddhist monk who is revered in Mongolia, was the Indian ambassador to Ulaanbaatar for 10 years).
• India shares historical relations with Mongolia in terms of culture from over 2700 years.
• Nomadic Elephant was the Counter-Terrorism joint military exercise conducted by India and Mongolia in 2016

Source:TH & Wiki