Baku, Azerbaijan, April 23
By Sara Israfilbayova – Trend:
Azerbaijan plans to build a gas processing plant by 2022, Aykhan Asadov, Managing Partner of BM Morison Partners, said at 4th SOCAR International Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum on Trading, Logistics, Refining and Petrochemicals is underway in Baku, Trend reports.
According to Asadov, the design work has been completed, and the plant construction is scheduled to start this year. He also noted that it was planned to build a single oil and gas processing complex in Azerbaijan; however, the initial plan was changed due to the fall in oil prices.
"The project was planned to be implemented in 2017-2020. The complex was to consist of four parts including a gas processing plant with a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually, a refinery with a capacity of 10 million tons annually, a petrochemical plant and a 250 megawatt power plant," Asadov said.
In his words, the changes mainly affected oil refining. In particular, instead of building new capacities, attention was focused on modernizing Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery. "The refinery plans to produce 3.3 million tons of diesel annually by the end of November 2020, and 2.2 million tons of gasoline annually by February 2021," Asadov said.
The 4th SOCAR International Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum on Trading, Logistics, Refining and Petrochemicals started in Baku on April 22. The SOCAR Forum is the largest event in the region in the field of oil and gas.
Each year the Forum is attended by over 300 delegates comprising the representatives of major oil and gas companies, refineries, trading firms, ports, terminals, banks and analytical agencies.
The agenda of the Forum includes, among other items, regional gas projects; potential imbalances in the global hydrocarbon market in 2019; new oil and gas fields in the region and their impact on trade flows and export routes; Caspian and Central Asian oil in a global context; and key export markets for the region’s refineries and trade flows. The participants also discuss trends in the global markets for petrochemical products including price trends, trade flows and technology development, and current state and prospects of Transcaucasian railway routes to the ports of Georgia.