Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 20
Trend:
The Star oil refinery of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR with a capital of $6.3 billion, built on the territory of the Petkim petrochemical plant in the Aliagha district of the Turkish city of Izmir, has been declared the first special industrial zone in Turkey, Turkey's Resmi Gazete newspaper reported citing the country's Ministry of Industry and Technology Oct. 20.
"The Star oil refinery, which was commissioned in Turkey's Izmir city, has been declared as the first special industrial zone of the country by decision of the Turkish president. It is expected that the investments of SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.S company in the amount of $2 billion will be utilized without any bureaucratic obstacles," the message says.
The opening ceremony of the Star oil refinery took place on October 19 in Izmir city of Turkey with the participation of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The refinery, valued at $ 6.3 billion, will begin operating in January 2019. At a later stage, an additional investment of $ 700 million will be made in the refinery.
The Star refinery will allow for reducing the current account deficit in Turkey by $1.5 billion and will fully meet the Petkim petrochemical complex’s demand for naphtha and mixed xylene. The refinery is capable of producing five million tons of diesel fuel, which will allow Turkey to reduce imports to 40 percent. In addition, the level of imports of liquefied gas will drop to 70 percent. The plant will produce 1.6 million tons of aviation fuel and will fully meet Turkey’s need for this product. Depending on the price of oil, the Star refinery will annually form a volume of trade in the amount of $6-8 billion.
Since August, the oil refining has been started at the refinery for testing purposes. Some 80,000 tons of Azeri Light oil were delivered to the refinery, given that the first oil cargo was from Azerbaijan.
During implementation of the project, 19,500 workers worked at the refinery. With the start of production at the refinery, 1,100 people will be provided with new jobs.
The Star refinery will process 10 million tons of crude oil annually. The refinery will produce 1.6 million tons of naphtha, 1.6 million tons of aviation fuel, 4.8 million tons of low-sulfur diesel fuel, 700,000 tons of petroleum coke, 420,000 tons of mixed xylene and 160,000 tons of sulfur.