The construction of the nation’s first oil refinery is set commence sometime in the third quarter of 2018 at Altanshiree soum in Dornogobi Province. The project is expected to be completed by 2022, said Minister of Mining D.Sumiyabazar. Funding for the project is being financed with a soft loan of one billion USD from India, announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country in 2015. Once operational, the refinery will have a processing capacity of 1.5 million metric tons of oil per year and will annually produce 560,000 tons of gasoline and 670,000 tons of diesel fuel, as well as 107,000 tons of liquefied gas. In addition, the refinery is expected to boost Mongolia's gross domestic product by 10 percent. Engineers India Ltd. has been selected to deliver the detailed project report for construction of the refinery, which will be operated by a public company. Alongside building the refinery, state-owned enterprises and organizations will also work on the 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 progress of the project has been encouraging for many who are hopeful that the refinery will offset to a certain extent Mongolia’s fuel dependence on Russia. Mongolia is fully dependent on Russia and in particular the state-owned Rosneft for fuel. The crude oil that is extracted in the country is mainly exported to China to be refined.