Baku, Azerbaijan, April 12
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has decided to reduce the production capacity at the new complex for oil and gas processing and production of petrochemical products (OGPC) which will be built near Baku, a senior SOCAR official told journalists.
"The decreasing in production at the complex is associated with the transition of one type of raw material, whereas it was supposed to use two types earlier (naphtha and C2 + fraction from gas processing plant)," the company's representative said.
"On the basis of additional research, we came to the conclusion that it is necessary to remove naphtha from the list of raw material base of petrochemical production and keep raw gas, as a result of which the amount of finished products will decrease from estimated 1.7 -1.8 million tons to just over one million tons," the source said.
Socar's representative said these volumes will be enough both for meeting the country's needs (15-20 percent), and for the implementation of exports.
"In turn, avoiding the usage of naphtha will allow to direct it for the sustenance of the release of gasoline fractions," the sourced noted.
It is planned to produce up to 2.5 million tons of gasoline, 3.2 million tons of diesel fuel and one million tons of jet fuel at the new complex.
"All of this volume is sufficient to meet the needs of the republic in petroleum products. As for diesel and jet fuel, the reserves will still be available for export, " the source said.
OGPC will be located 60 kilometers from Baku and will consist of three processing plants and a thermal power plant.
The period of implementation of the first phase of the project is two years. The overall duration of the project - eight years.
As the vice-president of SOCAR processing David Mammadov said previously, the company plans to complete commissioning and start production at OGPC sometime in 2023-2025.
Translated by S.I.
Edited by S.I.