Azerbaijan, Baku, July 2 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
Engineering activities have launched under a project to construct a State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) refinery in Turkey. The refinery will be built near the Petkim petrochemical complex, a SOCAR source reported.
Equipment licensing procedures are now underway, according to the source.
"Every company has engineering know-how and technology and the appropriate licenses," the source said. "Talks are underway with licensed companies to receive the right to use the equipment."
Earlier, Foster Wheeler AG announced that a Global Engineering and Construction Group subsidiary received a contract from the SOCAR-TURCAS Rafineri A.S. Alliance to build a grassroots refinery at the Petkim Petrokimya A.S. facilities in Aliaga, Turkey.
The contract covers the refinery's front-end engineering design, licensing and a basic design package for a delayed coker, which will use Foster Wheeler SYDECSM delayed coking technology.
The facility will have a capacity of 214,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd). Naphtha and fuel oil from the hydrocracking unit will be delivered to Petkim for petrochemical use.
The refinery will include crude and vacuum distillation units, naphtha hydrotreating, a 40,000 bpsd delayed coking unit, a 66,000 bpsd hydrocracking unit, kerosene and diesel hydrotreaters, LPG caustic treatment units, a 28,000 bpsd continuous catalytic reformer, a saturated gas unit, amine and sour water stripper, sulfur and tail gas treatment units and a 160,000 Nm3/h hydrogen unit, as well as utilities, auxiliary systems and offsite facilities.
The SYDECSM process will be designed to maximize clean liquid yields while minimizing fuel coke yields. Foster Wheeler's work under the contract is expected to end by late 2010.
In early June, SOCAR-TURCAS Rafineri A.S. received a license from the Turkish energy market regulator to build an oil refinery with a capacity of 10 million tons per year near Petkim, a holding in which SOCAR has equity participation.
The new plant's capacity will be 10 million tons per year. Four million tons will be supplied to meet Petkim's raw material needs. The remaining amount, particularly diesel and jet fuel and other energy resources, will be sold on the Turkish and European markets.