Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.19
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
STAR refinery, built by Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR in Turkey, will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in net gain for Azerbaijan and SOCAR, the state oil company told Trend.
“We are gradually conducting the commissioning process, while the refinery complex is expected to reach its full production capacity by the next year. This allows us to trespass from the project development stage to operations, coming to the edge, where the project starts generating revenues,” said the company.
SOCAR said that the new refinery is focusing on the vast potential of Turkish market.
“It will help Turkey reduce its trade deficit, substituting a significant part of currently imported products with local production. STAR refinery will also generate hundreds of millions USD in net gain for Azerbaijan and SOCAR. The integration with SOCAR’s other facilities in the Aliaga peninsula, will also boost the efficiency of petrochemicals production. STAR will feed our petrochemical complex Petkim with naphtha, which was being imported from overseas up until now,” said the state oil company.
The integration of feedstock supply, as well as the common use of some utilities and infrastructure will allow to reduce the annual expenses of Petkim by hundreds of millions USD, according to SOCAR.
The opening ceremony of the STAR oil refinery took place on October 19 in Izmir, Turkey.
The total refining capacity of the refinery will be 10 million tons, and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is the main supplier of crude for the refinery. The refinery will significantly reduce the dependence of Turkey on imports of petrochemical products.
The refinery worth $6.3 billion, built by SOCAR in the Aliaga District of Izmir, will produce 1.6 million tons of naphtha, 1.6 million tons of aviation fuel, 4.8 million tons of low-sulfur diesel, 700,000 tons of petroleum coke, 420,000 tons of mixed xylene and 160,000 tons of sulfur.
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