BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 17
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The production costs of Star oil refinery of Azerbaijan’s state oil company have dropped, Anar Mammadov, head of the SOCAR Turkey Energy refining and petrochemicals department (Turkish subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR) told Turkish media.
“The decrease in oil prices is both good and bad for our group. We are the Turkish subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR. Although Azerbaijan has made a strategic decision to reduce the risk by increasing the share of natural gas in its budget, the country is still an oil producer. So, it will somehow affect our group. As for Star oil refinery, we are not producing or selling oil in Turkey, but rather buy and refine crude oil for production. So, our production costs have dropped, since the crude oil prices have declined,” he said, Trend reports.
Mammadov noted that COVID-19 first of all affected the air transportation and logistics sphere.
“Almost all flights were canceled due to the travel restrictions, which naturally had rapid downward pressure on the jet fuel demand. Star refinery is equipped with advanced technology and enjoys operational flexibility. This has allowed the refinery with 1.6 million tons of jet fuel production capacity per annum to convert almost the entire capacity into diesel production. We will continue the refinery’s operation this way until Turkey’s air transportation sector resumes its normal work,” he said.
Mammadov went on to add that integration with Petkim lies in the foundation philosophy of Star refinery.
“Petkim takes all of its main raw material, naphtha, from STAR refinery. The integrated structure of the two facilities creates a shield for us in these processes,” he explained.
The opening ceremony of the Star oil refinery took place on October 19, 2018 in Izmir, Turkey.
The total refining capacity of the refinery is 10 million tons. The refinery will significantly reduce the dependence of Turkey on imports of petrochemical products.
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