Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 14 / Trend A.Akhundov /
Fluor Corporation announced today that SOCAR & TURCAS Rafineri A.S. (STRAS), the joint venture of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and TURCAS Petrol A.S., awarded the firm a project management consultant (PMC) contract for a new refinery to be built in Aliaga, Turkey. The new planned refinery will be integrated at the Petkim petrochemicals site on the Aegean coast.
As PMC for the SOCAR & TURCAS Aegean Refinery (STAR) project, Fluor will assist STRAS in selecting and managing the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor(s) and provide overall project and construction management.
Fluor has begun the work and will book the undisclosed contract value in the fourth quarter of 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 facility will have a capacity of 214,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd). Naphtha and fuel oil from the hydro cracking 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, as well as utilities, auxiliary systems and offsite facilities.
The new refinery is built to meet the needs of the Turkish petrochemical complex Petkim, in which SOCAR has equity. The construction involves making investments to the amount of $3.5-5 billion.
In 2008, the alliance between SOCAR and Turcas Petrol / Injaz Projects has won a tender to sell 51 percent stake of chemical concern Petkim, offering $2.04 billion. Now Turkey imports 70-75 percent of the necessary chemical products. Investments of SOCAR / Turcas / Injaz to the development of Petkim will reduce imports by 30 percent.
Petkim Petrokimya Holding manufactures plastic packaging, fabric, PVC, detergents. It is the only Turkish producer of such products. It exports a quarter of products.
Fluor Corporation is one of the leading engineering companies in the world, providing services to its customers in designing, construction and maintenance of industrial facilities.