Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 8
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The liquidation work at the Azneftyag refinery of the SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) will begin no earlier than the completion of the bitumen plant construction at the Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev, a source in the SOCAR company told Trend Oct. 8.
The source said that modernization of the refinery named after Heydar Aliyev and the liquidation of the Azneftyag plant is a great one coherent set of works on optimization of the production of petroleum products.
"Given the fact that the Azneftyag produced only bitumen, construction of a new bitumen plant at the refinery named after Heydar Aliyev is a sort of priority for us," said the source. "As soon as it is built and production of bitumen begins there, SOCAR will begin the work to eliminate the Azneftyag. This will happen in late 2017."
The source went on to add that the liquidation work will become a part of the plan to extend the territory of Baku Boulevard within the White City project.
"Not only coastal areas of the plant but also vast territories located in this zone, which now house a variety of shops, plants, equipment and storage tanks for oil and other liquids will be cleared," the source said. "Regarding the equipment and other physical assets of the Azneftyag, some of them will be put up for sale, a part of them will be recycled, another part renovated and used by the refinery named after Heydar Aliyev."
After the completion of the reconstruction, the processing capacity of the refinery will increase from 6 million to 7.5 million tons of oil per year.
The modernization cost is estimated at $1 billion.
SOCAR announced about liquidation of Azneftyag oil refinery on January 1, 2015 and its merger with Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev as part of work on improving and optimization of SOCAR's structure.
In total, over 5.31 million tons of petroleum products were produced in Azerbaijan in 2014, compared to 5.09 million tons in 2013.
Edited by CN
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